CIAA challenges EU to force successful WTO outcome
partners in order to ensure a balanced and successful outcome to
the current round of WTO talks.
"It is regrettable that negotiators missed the 30th of April deadline for drafting modalities," said Jean Martin, CIAA president.
"But with the stepping up of the process during these last weeks until July, it is still possible to reach a conclusion on agriculture and other modalities by the summer."
The call comes after EC president Josef Proll said yesterday that there was no reason for the EU to put more agricultural concessions on the table at the WTO.
Speaking at the informal agriculture council currently taking place in Krems under the Austrian Presidency, Proll said that the European Union had already made considerable prior concessions over issues such as agricultural tariffs and trade.
For CIAA however, the successful conclusion of a multilateral trade round under the Doha Development Agenda is still a priority not least for the credibility of the international trading system.
Aiming at securing continued industry investment across Europe, CIAA expects the EU to push trading partners into reforming their agricultural systems, providing for a level playing field for trade in food and drink products and greater trade opportunities.
Martin argued that the process requires political willingness and joint efforts from all negotiating partners in order to make concessions along the main issues such as domestic support in agriculture, agricultural market access, non-agricultural market access and services.
"The EU has already shown flexibility and a high degree of commitment throughout the negotiation process, but it cannot be the only partner making concessions," he said.
"To contribute to a successful outcome, all WTO members, including the most advanced developing countries, must take up their share of efforts and commit to achieving progress in areas where they are more defensive.
"CIAA aims for a balanced agricultural agreement where the three pillars of the negotiations (market access, export competition, domestic support) are coherent and the disciplines phased-in, in a consistent way."
Last minute negotiations at the World Trade Organisation's Hong Kong Ministerial in December, which discussed the breaking down of global trade barriers to agricultural products, resulted in an interim agreement that means negotiators have to return to the bargaining table this year.
The result was viewed as modest because it avoided earlier outright failures, though it did not secure any major breakthrough. But both the EU and the US now seem locked in a war of words, blaming each others lack of commitment for the slow progress being made.
For its part, the EU has offered to eliminate export subsidies by the end of 2013 under the condition of parallelism.
"CIAA calls on EU negotiators to maintain pressure on negotiating partners in view of ensuring appropriate treatment of export credits, state trading enterprises and food aid that have equally trade distorting effects. CIAA also urges negotiators to advance the issue of differential export taxes (DETs), which have very serious trade distorting effects," said Martin.
