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Farmers, Producers and Consumers Unprecedented Effort Joins Developed and
Developing Country Stakeholders Geneva, Switzerland: More than 38 organizations from five continents — representing consumers and every segment of the food industry — today launched a new global coalition to press World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries to topple the barriers to food and agricultural trade during the WTO’s DOHA round of negotiations. The Global Alliance for Liberalized Trade in Food and Agriculture, which includes food producers, processors, consuming industries and consumers, released a Declaration, an International Call for a Timely and Ambitious WTO Agreement on Agriculture, signed by Alliance members from 15 countries. The Declaration calls on WTO members to commit to achieving a comprehensive agreement on agriculture during the current negotiations. "This new Global Alliance will be a tremendous force in Geneva and around the world," said Liam McCreery, a Canadian farmer and President of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. "It will be a strong voice, constantly reminding WTO members that they have a responsibility — to farmers, the businesses built on farming, and to consumers — to aggressively attack the severe distortions in the international agriculture and food market. The current round of WTO negotiations is a once in a lifetime chance to do so." "Never before have we seen the momentum for genuine reform so strong, and backed by such broad and diverse representation," said Karl-Erik Olsson, former Minister of Agriculture from Sweden and a senior advisor to the Food Trade Alliance, a signatory to the Declaration. "The hundreds of millions of citizens served by our members are the ones penalized by barriers to food and agricultural trade. It is time for the “silent majority” of those who benefit from trade liberalization to take an active role in advocating for real trade reform." The Global Alliance’s declaration calls for negotiators to heed the Doha mandate by agreeing to commit to:
The full declaration can be found at www.foodtrade.org or www.cafta.org. Signatories to the Declaration include organizations ranging from the Consumers Association of Canada to Sociedade Rural Brasileira and the Japan Food Service Association. Countries represented among the signatories include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Japan, Thailand, the United States and Uruguay. Alliance members plan to take their message of liberalized food trade back to their home countries and to their WTO representatives, where they will press policymakers to lead the charge for reform during the difficult period of negotiations that lies ahead. Pedro de Camargo Neto of the Sociedade Rural Brasileira says his organization joined the Global Alliance to make real advancements for developing countries through improved access and disciplines on subsidies: "WTO member countries have to understand that dumping must end today, not tomorrow. It is absolutely unacceptable that the international market continues to be destroyed by subsidies, whether classical export subsidies or other forms of subsidies disguised in colorful boxes from rich country treasuries. This should not even be a matter of further negotiation. It has to happen immediately." "Agriculture and food products accounts for 9% of global merchandise trade, more than mining products, automotive products, chemicals, textiles and clothing, or iron and steel," said Lewis Leibowitz of Consumers for World Trade. "Yet subsidies, tariffs and other trade barriers severely distort the fair-market value of these goods. Tariffs applied to these products around the world average 60% each year, limiting developing countries’ ability to benefit from some of their main exports. They harm companies that rely on food products as inputs, and push prices up and limit choices for consumers." The Global Alliance for Liberalized Trade in Food and Agriculture comprises a broad array of industry and consumer stakeholders throughout the global agricultural supply chain committed to pressing for meaningful and far-reaching reform through the current WTO negotiations. For more information, contact: Tapio Chistiansen in Geneva at 001-917-528-3844 or |
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