ASEAN seeks to end farm export subsidies

ASEAN seeks to end farm export subsidies

MANILA (Dow Jones): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has urged the World Trade Organization to remove trade-distorting export subsidies and domestic support extended by developed countries to their respective farm sectors.

The petition was made through an official statement presented Monday by the Philippine Agriculture Undersecretary Arsenio Balisacan, on behalf of the ASEAN members at the ongoing special session of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Agriculture in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Philippines Department of Agriculture issued the statement Wednesday.

ASEAN has specifically asked for the elimination and prohibition of export subsidies, reduction over time of all trade-distorting support measures, improvement of market access for developing countries through further reduction in tariffs, among others.

"We believe that the objective of the negotiations should be to level the playing field between those who can afford to subsidize agriculture and those who can ill afford it," Balisacan said.

Developed countries provide domestic subsidies to encourage increased farm production, which effectively prevent the entry of exports from developing countries.

Export subsidies allow rich countries to dominate the world market by keeping the cost of their exports low.

The special session marks the end of the first phase of the WTO negotiations on agricultural issues and prepares the work- program for the next stages of negotiations.

In addition to the Philippines, ASEAN member countries include Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.