Pressure group pushing for global dialogue

By Yoke Har Lee

The group of companies that put the Food System on the Apec agenda has formed a lobby group to gain an audience at the World Trade Organisation.

Raymond Cesca, managing director of McDonald's Corp (world trade), revealed the plan at the Apec CEO Summit in Auckland.

However, the chief executive of Trade New Zealand, Fran Wilde, said the group did not like the word "lobby" and might call itself the Global Food Dialogue.

Mr Cesca said the Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) and the Pacific Basin Economic Council - both representing the private sector in the Apec process - would now push the issue in November at the WTO negotiations in Seattle, where agricultural trade would be a key element.

The private sector, through Abac, considers it has achieved a landmark by Apec trade ministers agreeing to the concept of abolishing export subsidies for farm goods.

Abac's Food System proposal had recommended that discriminatory practices in the trading of food be removed.

Further to the work done by Abac to put the initial proposal on the Apec agenda, the parties which worked on the concept would now focus on preparing the "road maps" for how this might be achieved, Mr Cesca said.

Henry Koa, vice-chairman of Taiwanese firm I-Mei Foods, said agricultural trade should be a high priority for Apec and should be the focus of Abac's future work.

This would include working on plans to get the proposals into action with specific directions and timelines.

Ernest Micek, chairman of international grain-trader Cargill, was rapt with the Apec trade ministers' agreement to work on abolishing export subsidies.

"A few years ago, one would not believe we would have been able to make this kind of progress. It is really work well done," he said.

Free trade in food presented vast opportunities for economic development, especially where inefficient production forced households to pay more for food.