Cairns Group to target food export subsidies

CANBERRA - The Cairns Group of agricultural exporters will target the United States and Europe as part of a new push to eliminate export subsidies on food, Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said on Tuesday.

Ministers from the 17 Cairns Group nations, which includes New Zealand, will meet this week in Colombia.

Mr Vaile said the ministers would set a deadline for the proposed elimination of export subsidies ahead of further World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong in December.

Mr Vaile, the group's chairman and a strong free trade advocate, said the meeting would also set suggested limits on domestic farm support and strategise on ways to ensure the WTO's Doha round delivered on its mandate of improved market access.

"We want to see the ultimate elimination of trade export subsidies, which are the most trade-distorting mechanism that exists," Mr Vaile said ahead of the Colombia meeting.

The 17 members of the Cairns Group have campaigned for nearly 20 years for free trade in farm products with little to show for it but Mr Vaile said the group was a potent force.

That was shown shown by US and European Union willingness to put food at the centre of the WTO's current Doha round, he said.

The Cairns Group has focused on challenging the European Union's tough restrictions on agricultural imports and the US$20 ($28.53) billion a year of support given to US farmers.

Mr Vaile's trip to Colombia comes as Australia pursues bilateral free deals to knock down trade barriers.

Australia has free trade agreements with the United States, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand, and talks are under way with Malaysia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Australia also wants deals with China and the United Arab Emirates and has floated the idea of a trade pact with Japan.

The government may grant China market economy status -- a precursor to bilateral trade negotiations which could begin in April when Prime Minister John Howard visits Beijing.

Bilateral trade deals have been criticised by some analysts as threatening to divide the world into competing trading blocs but Mr Vaile said these deals had helped drive negotiations in the WTO and through the regional Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group.

Cairns Group members, who account for 23 per cent of world agricultural trade, are Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia.

- REUTERS