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France praises the US
French Agriculture Minister Herve Gaymard praised the United States yesterday for making concessions that helped seal a WTO accord on cutting billions of dollars in farm subsidies.
After five days of wrangling, the WTO’s 147 member states agreed a framework on Sunday laying down the guidelines for the Doha Round, which has been troubled since the collapse of talks almost a year ago in Cancun, Mexico.
“We agreed to cut subsidies, given their disruptive effect, but everybody has to play by the same rules,” Gaymard said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper.
“We secured the reciprocal action that we wanted. The United States accepted reform of its agriculture policy and deserves to be congratulated.”
Speaking on French radio, Gaymard indicated the WTO deal included an agreement to end subsidies to sectors in crisis, for example pig farmers.
The pork industry won several weeks of export aid from the European Union in January and February, a form of limited aid Gaymard said would now be phased out over the coming decade.
“This sort of aid lasts for only a short time, it’s not generalised. Pork producers cannot say ‘I get export aid all of the time’, because the aid is decided upon in Brussels, depending on market conditions,” he told France Inter radio.
One of the subjects of negotiation from this autumn, and up to December 2005, will be the speed at which (this aid will be) dismantled.
“I think that a timeframe of 2015 or 2017 is most likely,” he said of the cut-off point for such aid.
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