Media release

The Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Tim Fischer

20 May, 1998

Statement By Cairns Group ministers

2nd WTO Ministerial Conference, Geneva

Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay

Cairns Group Ministers welcomed the agreement at the WTO Ministerial Conference to begin preparations for the next round of agriculture negotiations as a big step forward.

Ministers pointed out that the WTO Geneva Ministerial Declaration bound WTO members to a preparatory process beginning in September 1998. The result would be a decision in 1999 on the scope, structure and time-frame for the agriculture negotiations. WTO Members had confirmed in the Declaration that the agriculture negotiations would begin on schedule and that they would conclude expeditiously.

Ministers said that they would use the preparatory process to ensure that the negotiations got off to the best possible start. They aimed to achieve a clear, ambitious and balanced negotiating mandate.

Ministers recalled that the Cairns Group at its meeting in Sydney in April had agreed that its objective for the next negotiations was to place trade in agriculture on the same basis as trade in other sectors of world trade.

Ministers said that the Cairns Group would be working closely with other Members of the WTO to achieve these objectives.

Ministers added that momentum for agricultural reform must be maintained as the WTO entered its second half-century.

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Local Date: Thursday, 17-May-2012 15:48:36 EST