Post-Hong Kong Trade Talks Should Emphasize Market Access, NCGA Notes (1-19-06)

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Chairman Leon Corzine said the announcement that the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round agriculture negotiation group will convene its first post-Hong Kong talks on farm trade Jan. 23 is a step forward in advancing key issues important to corn growers, such as market access.

“We are pleased the negotiations are beginning to move forward as directed by the ministerial, however, it is extremely important the negotiations in the coming months focus on the key issue of market access,” he said. “The European Union has become the primary obstacle to true market access and their refusal to move on the issue has become apparent to everyone. Failure by the EU to negotiate in good faith is causing harm to the WTO. As a result all the members suffer especially the least developed and developing countries. We are not talking about agriculture alone but all sectors of the U.S .and world economies. We must move the process forward now.”

The initial negotiations are set to begin Jan. 23-27, according to a statement made this week by WTO Chairman Crawford Falconer. In addition to the January dates, Feb. 13-17, March 20-24 and April 18-21 have been scheduled as weeks for negotiations. The ministerial has set April 30 as the deadline countries will agree to a detailed blueprint for negotiating agriculture and industrial market access in the Doha round. A July deadline was also set for completing schedules of commitments in the Doha Round, which would be dependent on negotiators meeting their modalities deadline.

It is expected that Falconer will follow the agenda from the fall of 2005 and have two to three plenary sessions interspersed with various smaller group meetings on which will focus on certain topics and issues. The topics that will be discussed will include sensitive products and food aid among others.

Meanwhile, trade ministers from more than 20 countries will hold a ministerial meeting Jan. 27–28 in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum conference, where discussions will focus on approaches to advance the Doha Round negotiations. The G6 ministers (U.S., EU, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan) will then meet on Jan. 29 where it is expected that the meeting will focus more on process and not as much on contentious issues.