*EPF306 03/28/01
Negotiators Complete First Phase of WTO Agriculture Trade Talks
(U.S. satisfied with first year, Phase II begins in May) (520)
By Wendy Lubetkin
Washington File European Correspondent

Geneva -- Agricultural negotiators at the World Trade Organization (WTO) have successfully concluded the first phase of talks aimed at speeding the reform of agriculture trade and reducing trade distorting practices such as subsidies.

U.S. officials expressed satisfaction with the first phase, which began in March 2000. "This has been a very helpful first year to put the positions on the table and help us to start lining up where support is for different reforms," said an official from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

"In phase two we want to intensify this, get into more technical discussions about specific approaches to reform. But we are happy with the position that we are in right now. This is exactly where we needed to be," the official said. The first phase talks concluded March 27.

The Geneva negotiations are being conducted under Article 20 of the Uruguay Round Agricultural Agreement which required WTO members to begin negotiations aimed at reforming agriculture by early 2000.

The WTO's Agriculture Committee met six times over the course of the first year of talks. To date, 125 of the WTO's 140 members have submitted proposals on agricultural trade.

The United States presented a comprehensive agricultural reform proposal to the Agriculture Committee in June 2000. The U.S. package calls for elimination of export subsidies, reform of domestic policies and substantial reductions in tariffs.

As talks enter their second phase, negotiators will divide their work according to subject as they begin to enter into the bargaining that will be necessary to reach a consensus agreement. A first informal meeting has been set May 21-23.

"We think that we have come to a good closure of Phase I and that it gets us off to a good start for Phase II," an official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said March 27.

"We are moving to a stage now where the nature of the work is going to significantly change. We are going to be talking about proposals that countries have made," the official said. "We -- at least on the American side -- are very much expecting this to be substantive, in depth, focused and to have the kind of give and take exchange that we haven't been able to have in the first year, which was for submitting proposals."

WTO Director-General Mike Moore said that almost all WTO members submitted proposals during Phase I reflecting "a widespread commitment to continue to reform agricultural trade."

"The next phases are not going to be easy, but there is clearly a healthy determination to work together on this," Moore said in a statement. "The interests of everyone, from subsistence cultivators and herdsmen in developing countries, to modern farmers in the developed nations, are being pushed in these talks."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Website: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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