Agenda item 52(a): International Trade and Development
25-26 October 2007
Delivered by Senator Michael Forshaw, Parliamentary Advisor to the Australian Delegation on behalf of the Cairns Group
(As delivered)
Mister Chairman
It is my great privilege to address you today on behalf of the Cairns Group of 19 agricultural trading countries, namely Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay.
This statement comes at a pivotal moment in the WTO Doha Round agriculture negotiations. There is intensive work underway in Geneva and we have reached the point where all Members, particularly those with the highest levels of agricultural support and protection, need to show maximum flexibility in order to secure an outcome that will meet the Doha mandate. The opportunity represented by the Doha Round is simply too important to be lost.
An undistorted, smoothly functioning global trading system is a key ingredient to lifting millions of people out of poverty. And yet, restrictive market access barriers and high subsidies have for decades compromised the ability of unsubsidised farmers, particularly developing country farmers, to participate in global agricultural trade, thus limiting their incomes and their ability to escape poverty.
Failure to conclude the Doha Round would represent a major blow for development, for agricultural trade reform and for the multilateral trading system. That is why the Cairns Group remains committed to securing an ambitious and balanced outcome to the negotiations.
There are vital issues to resolve in each of the three pillars of the agriculture negotiations - Domestic Support, Export Competition and Market Access.
On domestic support, the three largest subsidisers – the European Communities, the United States and Japan – must significantly reduce the amounts they currently spend on trade-distorting domestic support.
On export competition, we must conclude the Round in order to lock in agreement to eliminate export subsidies. The Cairns Group will also continue to seek effective disciplines on other export mechanisms, including export credits and the disposal of surplus commodities in the guise of food aid.
On market access, we need urgently to agree on approaches to tariffs that break down the barriers which have for so long hampered the full development of agricultural trade.
Also integral to the negotiations is the need to recognise the circumstances of developing countries through appropriate Special and Differential Treatment. By translating this principle into practical provisions consistent with the overall reform agenda, the WTO will be able to continue to support the economic development needs, including technical assistance requirements, of developing countries.
Mister Chairman
The Cairns Group continues to emphasise that trade-distorting support, export subsidies and market access barriers combine to block the contribution that agricultural trade can make to economic development, which in turn contributes directly to the continued impoverishment of developing countries.
It is clear that there can be no successful outcome to the Doha Round without a substantial package of reforms on agriculture. Striving to achieve these reforms is hard work, but the Cairns Group has never shied away from doing more than its share of heavy lifting to get a fair outcome on agriculture. As this work moves towards a critical juncture, we must all now play our part in bringing the negotiations to a close in a manner that genuinely delivers on the development promise of the Round.
Thank you.