Agence France Presse | February 20, 2004
The 17-nation Cairns Group of agricultural exporters meets in Costa Rica next week to discuss ways to kick-start the stalled Doha round of global trade liberalisation negotiations, Australia said Friday.
Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said the three days of talks starting Monday in San Jose come a "crucial time" for rescuing the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.
"Unless there is meaningful progress on agriculture over the next few months, the Doha round will go nowhere in 2004," Vaile said in a statement.
"Everyone will lose if WTO members lose sight of the main game -- genuine, long-term reform and liberalisation," he said in a statement.
WTO members are preparing to resume the so-called Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations following the failure of a September ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, that collapsed largely over the issue of agricultural subsidies in the European Union and the United States.
The Cairns group, comprising Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay, has been leading the battle to eliminate farm subsidies.
"As a leading voice for agricultural reform since its formation in 1986, the Cairns Group has a central role to play in getting the agriculture negotiations back on track to deliver a strong outcome that meets the ambitious reform objectives set out in the Doha Declaration which launched WTO negotiations in 2001," Vaile said.
The Cancun meeting fell apart amid disagreements on trade-distorting farm subsidies in the EU and US and because poor countries refused to be pressured to widen Doha's agenda to include four so-called Singapore Issues: transparency in government procurement, competition policy, red tape in trade and cross border investment regulations.
"Agriculture is the key to unblocking the entire Doha agenda," Vaile said.
He said the San Jose meeting would discuss strategies to accelerate progress on agriculture and would examine ways "to keep maximum pressure on all sides - especially the major users of agricultural subsidies".
The Cairns group is notably seeking substantial improvements in market access for its farm products, big cuts in subsidies to US and EU farmers and the phasing out of export subsidies.
"There have been some promising signs from the United States and the European Union on their commitment to moving forward in the agriculture negotiations and we must ensure that they deliver on this commitment," Vaile said.
The San Jose conference will also include meetings among Cairns group members and WTO Director General Supachai, US Trade representative Bob Zoellick and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Derbez.Agence France Presse:
