Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, today said all countries stood to gain from reform of the trade rules affecting the global grains trade. Mr Vaile was opening a seminar organised by the AWB Ltd and the Grains Council of Australia that drew leading farm representatives from Australia, the US and the EU to discuss their priorities for global grains trade. "If producers in heavily protected rich countries faced world market prices, efficient producers such as Australia would not have to compete against heavily subsidised competition. And developing countries would have a fair chance to develop their grains industries to alleviate poverty … the basis of food insecurity," Mr Vaile said. "If we are to have enough grain available at reasonable prices to feed our populations in the new millennium, we need to ensure the best possible set of conditions for international trade." Mr Vaile said it was not acceptable that by the time reductions from the Uruguay Round were fully implemented next year, the global grains trade would still be subject to significant distortions. The US would still be able to subsidise 14.5 million tonnes of wheat and wheat flour to the tune of $US363 million, and the EU would be able to subsidise 14.4 million tonnes of wheat and wheat flour by $US1.3 billion. "Australia's objective at the Seattle WTO Conference this week is to ensure that the next round of trade negotiations on agriculture achieves significant gains in market access, the elimination of export subsidies and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support," Mr Vaile said. Mr Vaile congratulated AWB Ltd and the Grains Council of Australia for taking the initiative to organise the seminar that highlighted how important the world grains trade was, and how much work was needed to have fair trade in these commodities. The Australian grains industries' brochure "Perspectives on Grains Trade Liberalisation" is available on www.awb.com.au
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