WTO urged to move quickly: Minister

WTO urged to move quickly: Minister

BANFF, Canada (AFP): Cairns Group Ministers on Wednesday urged the World Trade Organization to work quickly on eliminating agricultural export subsidies and trade distorting domestic policies on the final day of their three-day meeting here.

Ministers from the group's 18 medium-sized agricultural exporting countries welcomed the ongoing WTO agriculture negotiations, which got underway in March, but pushed for a quicker response to the long-standing contentious issue.

"Beginning the negotiations is not enough. The WTO needs to work expeditiously towards a conclusion," the ministers said in a statement, adding it should be treated with the highest priority.

"The time has come to deliver on the Uruguay Round objective to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions," it said.

At the end of the Uruguay Round in 1994, WTO members set the end of 2000 for the submission of initial proposals on aligning rules governing agricultural trade with those governing other types of trade and the changes were to be implemented in early 2001.

The Cairns Group and the United States seek the elimination of agricultural export subsidies, while the 15-member European Union and Japan fiercely oppose the idea.

Opponents claim subsidies are needed for compelling social, cultural and environmental reasons, but the Cairns Group rejected that, saying aid cannot be justified by non-trade concerns.

"Unfair levels of subsidies and market restrictions in other countries are like a noose tightening around the necks of our producers, so it's critically important that we keep on pushing for a fair trading environment in which all countries are on a level playing field," said Canada's agriculture minister, Lyle Vanclief, in a conference call Wednesday.

Canada is one of the leading members of the Cairns Group, which also includes Argentina, Australia (a leading member), Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, Thailand, South Africa and Uruguay.