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INTRO: Trade Minister Simon Crean says farmers from around the world are frustrated at the lack of progress on a global trade deal which could cut farm support and tariffs. Speaking from Uruguay after a meeting of the Cairns Group, a group of agricultural exporting countries, Mr Crean says they're determined to conclude the Doha trade talks. Reporter Mary Goode spoke with Mr Crean about the proposed agreement and the affect of Europe's flight bans on Australian agriculture.

SIMON CREAN: Well fortunately it's not going to have a huge impact on agricultural exporters from Australia, because only a very small proportion of our produce is air-freighted, some one per cent of total agricultural export. Now in relation to that one per cent, of course, that will be affected. But the reality is that we have excellent refrigeration facilities so it won't be wasted. It will delayed. The demand for it will mean that they'll have to replenish depleted stocks more quickly.

MARY GOODE: What are the main exports of Australian produce to Europe and what's the estimated cost?

SIMON CREAN: The main produce is meat; beef, sheep meat, dairy produce, some fruit and vegetables. The estimate from DFAT, I think, is in the order of $54,000 a day. But, as I say, it's not huge, but there is some impact.

MARY GOODE: And you're over at the Cairns Group meeting. Has there been any hold-ups because of this — a ban on flights, has there been a lack of attendance or anything like that?

SIMON CREAN: Well unfortunately, some ministers were not able to attend the meeting, because they were held-up with flights in — because of the delay. But that, nevertheless, didn't stop their representatives at the meeting reaffirm a strong commitment to doing everything that's necessary to conclude the round. Last year we demonstrated the flexibility to change the process to get more engaged on a number of fronts and even though that was an important breakthrough, it's again unfortunate that we haven't made the progress we would have liked. But nevertheless this was the first ministerial engagement since the March stocktake in Geneva, that this ministerial engagement hasn't lost its enthusiasm, prepared to engage on the new flexibilities and is looking to opportunities in the coming months.

MARY GOODE: Farmers in Australia have been hearing about the Doha round for about nine years now, when discussions first started. What can they expect in the next, say, year? And then can they expect a conclusion to this, because I think there's some frustration that they're hearing a lot about it, but they're not getting an outcome?

SIMON CREAN: Exactly, and I had a meeting with the farm groups who attend the Cairns Group meeting, and they'd come from all of the Cairns Group countries, so I had a very good discussion with them. They too are frustrated, because they reflect not only the frustrations at their members, but also the frustrations we share. I mean around the table, we want the outcome.

MARY GOODE: So what's holding it back? What's holding back an agreement?

SIMON CREAN: What's holding it back is that there are still sticking points in some aspects of agriculture that, in the other issues, that are important to close the round. So we're dealing not just with agriculture in this round, but with industrial products and with services. We have to deal with issues around rules and procedural dimensions. But I keep making the point that in July of 2008, complex as this was, we were able, with the political will and the right engagement, to actually conclude 80 per cent of what was on the table. What we have to do is to bridge the difference. That's what's proving hard, but it's not impossible.

ENDS

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