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By Isabel Reynolds

TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization (WTO) should push food producing countries to maintain exports to prevent a worsening of the international food crisis, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Wednesday.

Ballooning food prices have sparked riots in Bangladesh and brought down the government of Haiti, while some countries have banned exports of staple foodstuffs in an attempt to avert domestic shortages.

"If we restrict trade, we're simply going to add food scarcity to the already large problems of food shortages that exist in different countries," Mandelson said in an interview during a visit to Tokyo with an EU delegation.

"The WTO stands for free trade. It needs to exert its pressure and influence to reduce tariffs and thereby encourage trade," he added. "It's also got to stand up against export restrictions, export taxes, which too will stop the free flow of trade in foodstuffs and agricultural produce."

He said increased aid was needed to help developing countries deal with immediate shortfalls.

"Our response to this has to be an international one," he said of the crisis."If people adopt unilateral national measures, they're almost certainly going to fail," he said, adding that he understood the domestic political pressures that were sparking emergency export curbs.

His comments came a day after a concerned Japan, which relies on imports for most of its food, said it would propose the WTO set clear rules on food export restrictions.

Mandelson said concerns over food and global financial turmoil were spurring progress towards an agreement on the Doha round of WTO negotiations, which aims to forge a deal to liberalise world trade.

The next ministerial meeting on the Doha round may be held in late May or June, after speculation it could be in the week of May 19, Kyodo news agency quoted Mandelson as saying on Tuesday.

European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday expressed "strong concern" about rising food and fuel prices and agreed on the urgent need to address the issue, especially in developing countries.

Mandelson and other European Commission officials leave Japan on Thursday for China, hoping to resolve disagreements over climate change and trade. (Editing by Valerie Lee) (isabel.reynolds@reuters.com; +813-6441-1883; Reuters Messaging isabel.reynolds.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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