Brussels / Geneva, 19/08/2003 (Agence Europe) - As foreseen after the mini-ministerial meeting in Montreal (see EUROPE of 1 August, p.3), the European Union and the United States agreed on a common approach regarding reform of farm trade negotiated within the multilateral framework of the Doha Agenda. The joint document, presented in Geneva last Wednesday, was welcomed by their trade partners as a real step forward, representing a compromise between the two blocs and a negotiation commitment, it was said at the World Trade Organisation on Monday. Franz Fischler and Pascal Lamy, European Agriculture and Trade Commissioners, see this as a reasonable framework for continuing negotiations and as proof of the great importance that the Union and the United States attach to the responsibility that falls upon them to pave the way for a successful and ambitious conclusion in Cancun. This transatlantic stance is focused on three particularly sensitive issues, namely internal subsidies, market access and export competition. EUROPE will come back to this.