Europe warned on G.A.T.T. talks

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 7

Europe warned on G.A.T.T. talks

By

BRENDON BURNS

in Waitangi

The review of the world’s trade rules, the G.A.T.T., could stall because of European Community inflexibility, New Zealand and Australia warned last evening.

At a meeting in Waitangi of the Cairns Group of agricultural trading countries, the European Community was singled out as the main impediment to reform of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The Minister for External Relations and Trade, Mr Moore, opened the meeting of 14 countries. He criticised the access negotiations New Zealand is forced to endure to get exports into the E.C. It was absurd, he said, for butter and sheepmeat access proposals to have to be put on the table in Brussels, subject to constant attack and uncertainty. ‘‘lt is no way to run a circus, let alone an international trading system,” said Mr Moore.

The G.A.T.T.’s four-year review was past the midway point and the European Community had shown no sign of flexibility in allowing freer trade in agriculture. Without agriculture’s inclusion, the G.A.T.T. round risked stalling, he said.

Mr Michael Duffy, Australia’s Minister for Trade Negotiations, said it was regrettable that the E.C. had not matched recent American

preparedness to be more flexible in negotiating agricultural reform. He said the E.C. would give no commitment to impose discipline on fundamental elements of its Common Agricultural Policy. This farmer-supporting policy absorbs two-thirds of the E.C.’s entire budget

The E.C. also remained vague on the pace and extent of long-term reform, said Mr Duffy.

The G.A.T.T. round was in jeopardy if the E.C. position did not change. .“In that case, we could well be looking at the beginning of the end of the Uruguay round,” he said. The Waitangi meeting brings together diverse agricultural exporters, such as Hungary, Chile, the Philippines and Canada, for the first time since the mid-term review of the G.A.T.T. in Montreal late last year.

At that time, the five Latin American members of the group — Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil — said if agriculture was not included in the G.A.T.T., then they would not participate further in the round of negotiations.

This carries a powerful warning to Western countries because of the huge debts owed by the Latin American States.

Argentina’s representative at Waitangi, Dr Bernardo Grinspun, said his country earned 80 per cent of its foreign exchange from agriculture.

He said if solutions could be found to the problems of trading agricultural products, then foreign debts could be solved.

The Latin American representatives at Waitangi indicated a willingness to negotiate with the European Community on agriculture.

But there remained a defiance that if agriculture was not satisfactorily included in the G.A.T.T., they could continue to refuse any role in the round.

Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture, Dr Gabriel Rosas, said this strategy had shown its usefulness and called for its endorsement by the full Cairns Group.

This will be one of the main issues for the meeting to decide before it concludes today. Mr Duffy, who is chairing the meeting, said it was essential for the group to maintain unity.