Geneva, 28/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - At the extraordinary session of the WTO Agricultural Committee on Thursday, the EU and some twenty third countries presented the following communication:
"1. Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture provides that the continuation of the reform process should take into account non-trade concerns, special and differential treatment to developing countries and the possible negative effects of the implementation of the reform programme on least-developed and net-food importing developing countries. In this context, a Conference on Non-Trade Concerns in Agriculture attended by 40 countries and economies was held in Ullensvang, Norway, on 1-4 July 2000. The European Commission and the governments of Japan, Mauritius, Norway, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland organised the conference, which was attended by developing countries including least-developed countries and small island developing states, economies in transition, and developed countries.
2. The broad objective of the conference was to provide a forum for discussion among developing and developed countries on non-trade concerns (NTCs). Subjects treated covered the specific and multifunctional characteristics of agriculture, agriculture's contribution to rural development, food security, environment and cultural diversity, and the need for flexibility in national policy design to address non-trade concerns, both from developed and developing country perspectives. Each of the organisers contributed to the discussion with papers covering a vast array of issues and concerns common to developing and developed countries alike. The papers highlighted the wide diversity and specificity of agricultural systems worldwide. The six papers are attached.
3. It was recognised that every country has the right, in accordance with mutually agreed rules, to address non-trade concerns, such as strengthening the socio-economic viability and development of rural areas, food security and environmental protection, and promoting the co-existence of various types of agriculture. In this context, special and differential treatment to developing and least-developed countries must also be ensured. It was also recognised that market forces alone could not address these non-trade concerns.
4. We believe that this is a useful contribution to the work within the framework of paragraph (c) of Article 20 by the Special Session of the Committee of Agriculture, and we look forward to a fruitful discussion in this Committee".
The signatories of this Communication are: The European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Cyprus, Malta, Iceland, Korea, Barbados, Fiji, Mauritius, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mongolia, Liechtenstein.
The annexed documents are: two European Commission Communication on "the contribution of agriculture to rural development" and "the contribution of agriculture to environmentally and culturally related non-trade concerns within the WTO"; one from Japan and Korea on "food safety and the role of internal agricultural production", one from Norway on "the need for supply on the development of national policies", and one from Mauritius on "developing countries and considerations other than commercial ones".
All these documents are available on the Internet.
Discussions on non-commercial considerations of agriculture open, and EU to ensure that public
considerations are taken into account, says Franz Fischler
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Franz Fischler stressed that, with the presentation of the Communication by the EU and other signatory countries, discussions on "considerations other than of a commercial nature" have begun in Geneva, and went on to comment: "An exclusive focus on trade liberalisation in the WTO talks would fail to take on board the legitimate demands of civil society. The EU is determined to see that public concerns on the quality of the environment and the viability of rural areas are brought to the fore in these talks".