No Agreement At Geneva Butter Conference

Press, Volume C, Issue 29621, 18 September 1961, Page 11

No Agreement At Geneva Butter Conference

IN P. A.-Reuter— Copyright)

GENEVA, Sept. 17. The international butter conference which ended late on Friday night has been described as "not very successful*’ by sources close to the 13-nation talks. The sources said that delegates "could not agree on anything” and no way out could be found that was satisfactory to everybody. The conference was convened by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (G.A.T.T.) to discuss dumpings of butter on the London market.

In a communique issued at the end of the conference, the executive secretary of G.A.T.T. said that delegate* would report to their governments on the discussions held. The communique said the executive secretary had been authorised to reconvene the conference later this month if necessary after consulting with governments. The communique made no

reference to the failure of the conference to reach agreement. It said the delegates "discussed various possibilities designed to strengthen the United Kingdom market.” The communique also recommended that governments should be invited to give continued attention to measures recommended at earlier G.A.T.T. consultations designed to mitigate oversupply of butter, especially on the United Kingdom market.

The sources said that proposals by delegates ranged from a suggestion that ’Britain should introduce countervailing duties (against subsidised butter) to a suggestion to do nothing. The countries accused by New Zealand and Denmark of dumping butter were Argentina, Ireland. France, Poland and Finland. The conference was convened by G.A.T.T. at the request of Britain to discuss Danish and New Zealand applications for the imposition of anti-dumping and couu-

tervailing duties on butter exported to Britain. At the beginning of the talks, Britain, New Zealand and Denmark proposed that countries that were now dumping butter on the London market should limit their exports, at least for a period. But New Zealand and Denmark, the sources said today, objected to being included in quotas proposed to reduce the glut on the market The sources added that Denmark had said it was not prepared to accept the quotas proposed, whereas New Zealand objected to any quotas at all on her butter trade with Britain.

One source summed up the four-day conference by saying: “It was not ) v ery successful and they could not agree on anything. No way out could be found that was satisfactory to everybody.” He said: “Suggestions ranged from proposals that Britain should introduce countervailing duties (against subsidised butter) to doing nothing.”