"The upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancún provides a good opportunity to make progress on the total elimination of trade-distorting measures", said Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, speaking today from the organization´s Geneva headquarters. The statement was made in the context of this week´s debate in Geneva by the UN Economic and Social Council on rural development in developing countries.
"In that spirit", Mr. Ricupero said, "proposals that involve meaningful reductions in agricultural subsidies, such as those put forward by the United States and the Cairns Group, as well as the European Commission´s recently proposed reforms, represent valuable steps in the right direction".
The US is proposing the elimination of export subsidies and the use of a harmonizing formula for substantially reducing agricultural tariffs. The Cairns Group of 17 agricultural exporting countries calls for elimination of export subsidies and significant cuts in domestic support. Last week the European Union´s Agriculture Commissioner announced acceptance of proposed reforms which would weaken the link among prices, payments and production.
All of these proposals are in keeping with the intent of the Doha Declaration, adopted by WTO members at the previous ministerial conference in 2001, to establish a "fair and market-oriented trading system" and to "correct and prevent distortions and restrictions in world agricultural markets". That goal will be in the forefront of discussions in Cancún this September, where Mr. Ricupero said he was hopeful of seeing significant progress by developing countries.
