New Zealand’s agricultural trade envoy is optimistic the current round of world trade talks will produce significant benefits for farmers, despite gloom about a potential stalemate or breakdown of talks this September in Cancun, Mexico.
Graham Fraser, a former dairy farmer hired by the New Zealand government to travel the world promoting freer trade, said World Trade Organization members who signed an ambitious commitment in Qatar 18 months ago know they cannot fail.
He recalled the fiasco in Seattle in 1999 when trade talks collapsed.
“I was at Seattle and I know what a terrible setback a failure at such a meeting is,” he said during a visit to meet farm leaders in Ottawa.
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“The participants know that. The world is looking at them. I do not believe they will allow failure.”
However, Fraser also conceded that in the aftermath of the Qatar agreement, there has been almost no progress in agricultural talks.
The New Zealand representative said he sees momentum building for a successful negotiation in Mexico. WTO officials have warned that any momentum may be lost if countries do not begin to move off initial bargaining positions.
“I think we must not lose our ambition at Cancun and we must not compromise on the deadline of
Jan. 1, 2005, to finish,” he said.
Fraser said he is confident trade talks will agree to phase out export subsidies. He expects agreement to substantially slash domestic trade or production-distorting subsidies.
He is less optimistic about significant progress on the third major proposed agricultural reform – increasing market access through sharp reductions in tariffs.
In Europe, Canada and other countries, he has encountered resistance to reducing protection for sensitive sectors.
He suggested that free traders like New Zealand may have to compromise their tariff-reducing ambitions.
