Speaking at the QUINT meeting of farm ministers from Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union (EU), EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler called upon his colleagues to show political leadership to make headway in the WTO negotiations on agriculture.
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“Without an acceptable compromise in the agricultural negotiations, there is little hope for the Doha round”, Fischler said. “A spirit of compromise and a process that provides leadership are essential ingredients to achieving successful results. Europe stands ready to do its part. The direction should be clear: reduce trade-distorting domestic support and all forms of export subsidisation, improve market access, provide more favourable treatment to developing countries, take into account non-trade concerns such as the environment, food safety, which are key to maintain public support to further trade liberalisation.”
Presenting his paper on the WTO negotiations on agriculture, the Commissioner underlined the need to make progress, since an agreement on agriculture is a necessary element for the successful conclusion of the overall Doha round. He said that to establish modalities of the negotiation by March 2003, as foreseen in the Doha Declaration, will require agreement not only on the guidelines for the commitments to be offered in terms of increased market access, reduced trade distorting support and disciplines for all forms of export subsidies; agreement on the rules within the framework of which such commitments would be applied would also be essential.
As Fischler put it to his colleagues, participants in the negotiation would have difficulty agreeing on how to reduce trade distorting domestic support, for example, if the definition of what constitutes such support was not clear. Such rules and commitments on domestic support are of direct relevance to key non-trade concerns which must be addressed.
The Quint participants agreed in general with the approach outlined by Commissioner Fischler. They also agreed that it is essential to ensure that developing countries are fully engaged in the process, both in terms of what developing countries are prepared to do and in terms of the commitments developed countries must be prepared to make towards developing countries and particularly the least developed. In this context, Fischler urged the other ministers to follow the EU example of opening duty free, quota free access for all products (except arms) from least developed countries. The Ministers also agreed on the need for greater technical assistance to developing countries, particularly to help developing countries to participate in the negotiations.
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By GlobalDataAnn Veneman, US Secretary for Agriculture, made a presentation on “The implication of new technologies for global food and agriculture.” She stressed the contribution new technologies can make to agriculture and to the environment. In his reaction, Fischler raised the political aspects: Can cooperation on research be intensified? How do we deal with the risks presented by the new discoveries? How do the developed countries fulfil their responsibility to ensure that developing countries have access to the new technologies? How can consumers be brought to see the advantages?
Warren Truss, Australian Agriculture Minister presented a paper on “Non-trade Concerns including the Multifunctional Role of Agriculture” in which he recognised that all countries have a right to pursue legitimate policy objectives. He took the position that the measures used to pursue non-trade concerns should not impact on trade. In his reaction, Fischler underlined the importance of non-trade concerns to both developed and developing countries and the need to address them seriously in the WTO negotiations. “Environment or food safety cannot be excluded of further trade liberalisation. On the contrary, only if societal goals can clearly continue to be pursued will progress towards free trade be possible”, he said.
Lyle Vanclief, Canadian Agriculture Minister made a presentation on “Agricultural Policy Reform and Future Perspectives”. He raised the issues of how the reform process can be strengthened, how the Doha Development Agenda in agriculture can be achieved, and how to find an acceptable outcome for the developing countries. The Commissioner stressed the need for all participants to ensure that their policy reforms move in the direction foreseen in Doha, including addressing consumers’ demands for a clean environment, food safety and security or clear information. He also pointed out that policy reforms in developed countries must take into account the needs of developing countries.
In summary, as the Chairman, Japanese Minister Takebe noted, the Quint Ministers reaffirmed their intention to work intensively together, and with the developing countries, to achieve a win-win conclusion to the negotiations.
