UNGA 59
Statement to the Second Committee of the General Assembly by
Senator John Tierney, Parliamentary Advisor to the Australian Delegation,
on behalf of the Cairns Group
Item 83 (a): International Trade and Development
3 November 2004
Mr Chairman
I have the honour today to speak on behalf of the Cairns Group of agricultural trading countries, namely Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay.
Distortions in world agricultural markets continue to undermine the ability of many developing countries’ agricultural sectors to contribute meaningfully to sustained economic development and poverty alleviation. World leaders have recently reaffirmed calls for the elimination of trade barriers and the opening of markets as a means for developing countries to unlock the full potential of their agriculture sectors, improving the food security and welfare of their people and providing impetus to the world economy as a whole. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has also recently reiterated the importance of agricultural reform for development.
The Cairns Group is pleased at the successful conclusion of the WTO July Framework Package which provides a crucial step forward in our quest for urgently-needed agricultural trade reform. Developing countries assumed an important role in the process of securing a successful outcome. We look forward to continued close cooperation with key developing country groupings, including the G20, in the next phase of the negotiations.
The framework breaks new ground by locking in a historic commitment by WTO members to eliminate, by a date certain, agricultural export subsidies, which have been so highly damaging to global farm exports and others’ domestic markets. It also foreshadows big cuts in the other farm subsidies provided by many wealthy countries. And it lays a good foundation for securing substantial improvements in market access for all products while taking into account developing countries’ special needs in this area.
The Cairns Group calls on WTO Members now to move ahead to finalise agriculture negotiations with a view to an early and successful conclusion to the negotiations that fully reflects the ambitious reform mandate they agreed to at Doha. That will require:
• a date for eliminating all forms of export subsidies on all products;
• substantial reductions in all forms of trade-distorting domestic support, particularly that provided by the major subsidising countries;
• substantial improvements in market access for all products; and
• effective mechanisms with respect to key elements of Special and Differential Treatment, recognising the particular needs of developing countries.
The Cairns Group also welcomes the emphasis in the July Framework Package on finding ambitious, expeditious and specific solutions to the cotton issue within the agriculture negotiations. This will help to ensure that the Doha Round’s development dividend will extend to all countries, including LDCs.
It is in everyone’s interest that all countries other than LDCs contribute to the process of agricultural reform, particularly those countries which are most responsible for the current severe distortions in world agriculture markets. Without deep developed country reform, developing countries will not be able to realise the full potential of their agricultural sectors.