UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 54th SESSION
Second Committee - Item 97(c): Trade and Development
Statement by H.E. Ms Penny Wensley,
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
on Behalf of the Cairns Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries
12 November 1999
Mr Chairman
I have the honour to speak today on behalf of the Cairns Group of 15 agricultural fair trading countries, namely Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay. I also have the honour to speak on behalf of Bolivia, Costa Rica and Guatemala which align themselves with this Statement.
The Cairns Group would like to use this opportunity to remind all Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) of their commitment, under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, to a process of fundamental reform leading to the establishment of a fair and market oriented agricultural trading system. Consistent with this objective, the Cairns Group is united in its resolve to ensure that the next WTO negotiations on agriculture result in trade in agriculture taking place on the same basis as trade in other goods including through the elimination of export subsidies and trade-distorting domestic support and substantial improvements in market access.
Mr Chairman
Despite the progress achieved in the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations, international trade in food and other agricultural products remains subject to profound and costly distortions. Trade in agricultural products continues to be hampered by high market access barriers. In OECD countries, the simple average bound tariff for agriculture at 36 per cent, remains substantially higher than that for non-agricultural products at 11 per cent. Tariff peaks in agriculture remain at excessively high levels with some tariffs reaching 800 per cent.
Permitted support levels also remain very large. In 1998, total support to OECD agriculture was estimated at US$362 billion - greater than the level of support provided when the Uruguay Round began.
After the implementation of Uruguay Round commitments, some countries will also retain considerable capacity to subsidise their exports of agricultural commodities. For example, the European Union and United States will each still have the eight to subsidise exports of around 14.5 million tonnes of wheat and wheat flour, and will have the combined right to subsidise exports of 172,000 tonnes of rice and 314,000 tonnes of poultry annually.
Mr Chairman
The huge subsidies and towering protection levels which set agriculture apart from all sectors of trade must be remedied. Rich countries must practice in agriculture what they preach for other sectors. There is no justification for the discrimination against agriculture in the world trading system. It is totally unacceptable to the Cairns Group that the most efficient agricultural producers are penalised while barriers to non-agricultural trade are eliminated or reduced to a minimum.
Some WTO Members suggest that the so-called "multifunctional" objectives of agriculture rural employment, landscape and the like - justify maintaining the high levels of agricultural support and protection. Just as it would not be acceptable to introduce "multifunctionality" in the WTO for manufacturing and services, there is similarly no justification to apply it in agriculture. Multifunctional objectives should not be used by rich countries as a smoke screen for protectionist agricultural policies which perpetuate poverty, hunger and environmental degradation. The WTO recognises non-trade concerns and these can be addressed through targeted and transparent policies which do not distort production and trade.
Mr Chairman
For much of the developing world, agriculture is the foundation of economic development and growth. But high levels of protection and subsidies in some industrialised countries block the development process and must be stopped. Agricultural trade liberalisation will allow farmers, particularly in developing countries, to respond to market forces and new income generating opportunities, both domestically and intemationally, without the burden of competition from heavily subsidised products. Comprehensive reform will also improve the ability of developing countries to attract foreign investment into their agricultural sectors and expand their opportunities to gain access to new technology. Agricultural trade liberalisation will also enhance food security by allowing developing countries to produce to their potential and through more diversified and reliable global sources of supply, unaffected by the distorting trade policies of other countries.
The framework for liberalisation must continue to support the economic development needs, including technical assistance requirements, of developing countries. Export restrictions must not be allowed to disrupt the supply of food to world markets, in particular to net food importing developing countries. The principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries, including least developed counties and small states, must remain an integral part of the next WTO agriculture negotiations. The next negotiations must result in concrete special and differential treatment provisions which allow developing counties to address issues fundamental to their economic development, including the need to realise their agricultural potential, to secure their fair share of world trade, commensurate with the needs of their economic development, and to address their non-trade Concerns particularly food security, rural development and poverty alleviation.
Mr Chairman
When we conclude the next round of agriculture negotiations, to be launched in December at the Seattle WTO ministerial Conference, it will be nearly twenty years since the world committed to fundamental reform. Developed countries must accept their responsibility to ensure that the task of liberalising trade in agriculture is completed in these negotiations so that the global benefits of agdcultural trade reform, particularly for developing countries, can be swiftly realised.