Asia Times: Cairns Group limbers up for WTO bout



	August 28, 1999	atimes.com

Global Economy

Cairns Group limbers up for WTO bout
By Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES - Agricultural exporting countries fighting for an end to subsidies are meeting this weekend in the Argentinian capital to urge that agriculture be the central focus of the coming round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

Ministers and secretaries of agriculture of the Cairns Group - comprising 15 countries pushing for the elimination of farm subsidies - will outline their common stance on the ''millennium round'' of trade talks, to be launched at the November 30-December 3 WTO ministerial conference in the US city of Seattle, Washington.

US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman will participate as a special guest in the last Cairns Group meeting prior to the start of the WTO talks. Although the United States is not a member of the group, it could act as an ally in the negotiations on agriculture. The Cairns Group is well aware of the wallop they could pack with US support, and are wooing Glickman accordingly. Glickman will address the meeting in Buenos Aires on Saturday, but will not take part in drafting or signing the final document.

The members of the Cairns Group - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay - account for around 25 percent of global trade in agriculture. If the United States, whose positions at times coincide with those of the group, is factored in, that total rises to 38 percent.

The Cairns Group was created in 1986 to come up with a common strategy to fight the farm subsidies used by the United States, the European Union (EU) and Japan, which refused to even consider putting agriculture on the multilateral trade agenda. Two years after its creation, the group demonstrated its influence when five South American members stood in the way of a consensus for four months, until the Uruguay Round set concrete targets for the liberalization of agricultural trade.

The members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development currently spend $362 billion a year on farm subsidies. Japan accounts for $55 billion of that total, the United States $100 billion and the EU $142 billion.

Despite the shared goal of liberalization of trade in farm products, there are differences among the countries. But the document to be released Sunday in Buenos Aires will not address the variations in the positions of the member countries, but will be a ''brief but clear and strongly-worded'' report, a representative from Argentina hinted this week.

The secretary of international economic relations of Argentina's Foreign Ministry, Jorge Campbell, admitted that the positions of the Cairns countries did not always concur. He stressed, however, that the idea was to build on the points of agreement for the sake of the common interest.

The countries do agree that agriculture should be the main focus of the forthcoming round of trade talks; that the already agreed-upon commitments to liberalization have not been fulfilled; and that the Cairns Group should put heavy emphasis on the freeing up of trade.

Essentially, Cairns Group countries are demanding free access to markets, an end to export subsidies - which keep efficient producers out of protected markets - and the elimination of direct internal subsidies to farmers.

Although Campbell said the greatest harm to the farm sectors of efficient agricultural countries was caused by internal subsidies, he pointed out that it would be easier to secure the elimination of export subsidies. Whatever the case, he added, ''this is the time to define our position, not negotiate''.

The official expressed doubts as to whether the Millenium Round would actually get underway in December, given the lack of clear definitions and consensus regarding the characteristics of the multilateral talks.

Private and government sectors in Argentina - considered the most ''hard-line'' Cairns Group country, according to Campbell - drafted a document for this weekend's meeting, stressing that the Millenium Round should be short - no longer than three years - and agriculture should be the key focus of the talks. The sectors back the principle that nothing should be agreed until everything is agreed - to ensure that the negotiations on agriculture are not held captive - and reject the US suggestion of an ''early harvest'' - in other words, concrete results in the first stage of talks.

''Agriculture must cease to be the 'apartheid' of trade,'' said Campbell, who added that the EU had done little to live up to commitments regarding the reduction of subsidies, which have been especially harmful to exporters elsewhere since farm prices crashed two years ago. He pointed out that while the United States contributed to distorting prices, it could stand as an ally against the EU's unyielding position.

''We are going to seek definitions from the United States,'' said Campbell. ''We need it to state to what extent it is committed to Cairns; whether or not an agreement on eliminating export subsidies is possible; and what its position will be in the WTO round of talks.''

Bolivia, Costa Rica and Guatemala will attempt to join the Cairns Group during this weekend's gathering. While Campbell said the greater the number of members, the more representative the group, he also pointed out that a larger group made it more difficult to reach a consensus.

Lastly, the Argentinian official said participants would bash theories in vogue in the EU on the ''multifunctionalism'' of agriculture, which defend the right to a rural landscape, conservation of the environment and full employment as justification for subsidies.

''We will not accept these theoretical inventions, because this is not an intellectual debate on who is right, but an exercise of power in which each defends the rights of his country,'' said Campbell.

(Inter Press Service)

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