29/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - High representatives of the main steel producing countries (including 17 of the 25 EU Member States) and the European Commission met in Paris on 28-29 June at the OECD to discuss how to cut subsidies to the industry. A press release published after the meeting said the participants had all expressed desire to reach agreement to remove all public subsidies instituting an uneven playing field. Disagreement persists, however, on several issues and negotiations will continue ahead of the next meeting (scheduled for 2005) explained the press release. It notes that the participants at the Paris meeting agreed that the future OECD agreement should be stricter with regard to state aid than the WTO "Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures".