Statement by Commissioner Fischler at the FAO Ministerial Conference in Rome

Mr. Chairman,

I welcome this opportunity to address the Conference of FAO on behalf of the European Community and its 15 Member States. Let me start by thanking the FAO for the valuable and much appreciated work carried out around the world to improve agricultural productivity and the conditions of rural populations.

I note that the EC as such has recently become a full member of the codex Alimentarius Commission. This is a positive achievement and we intend to play a full role and to work with other members of the codex in a spirit of mutual cooperation and support.

I would also like to thank Mr. Alemanno for his timely intervention on food security and the important role FAO plays in this respect.

If we want to reach the ambitious goals of the World Food Summit and those stated in the Millennium Declaration, we need to translate political will into coherent actions. These actions need to be focused not only on aid delivery and aid resources, but also on securing the necessary policy and institutional changes at domestic and international level to speed up progress in fighting hunger and poverty. It is essential to strengthen peoples' access to food by tackling poverty.

The situation is particularly troublesome in the sub-Saharan region, particular in many least developed countries. There are a significant number of factors that contribute to this situation - some of which are beyond our control and some of which are not.

As an example of an action within our reach, the cornerstone of EU-ACP cooperation and trade relations - the Economic Partnership Agreements - offers an excellent opportunity to move forward. With the negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements we have opted for a different approach - regional integration. The EPAs will be important building blocks for increased economic development, a means to remove cross border barriers, ensure political stability, increase trade between neighbouring countries but first and foremost an instrument for development.

Regional integration strengthens ties and cooperation between neighbouring countries. Integration can be further extended to include monetary and agricultural policies and many other areas in order to increase development, security, trade and co-operation. Recent experiences of regional integration are good examples of how development and integration can come from both inside and outside. Although not being the answer to everything, we believe it to be a solid and fundamental foundation upon which to commence.

We shall enhance and strengthen our efforts to ensure that the right foundation for growth and development is present. Agriculture plays an important role. It not only provides food on the table, it also brings valuable foreign exchange currency for many developing countries, and contributes to further development and growth. We are convinced that trade has a fundamental role to play.

This brings me to the failed WTO negotiations in Cancun and the disappointment this has created. The misplaced cheering which was heard in the immediate aftermath has been silenced as those who did the cheering have started to realise the grave consequences of the breakdown of negotiations.

It was for developing countries especially that a deal in Cancun would have carried most weight. After all, the Doha was launched as a development round, an initiative that the EU sponsored from the very start. A result in Cancun would have spelled out a meaningful further reform of the international agricultural trading system, as well as in respect of certain developed country policies where no changes had been made to date. It would have resulted in deep cuts in trade distorting domestic support and in all forms of export subsidisation, including export credits, state trading enterprises and other forms of export support. But just as importantly, it would have meant greater market access, for all, in particular the developing countries.

We would like to see other countries contribute with a similar gesture towards the least developing countries as we have done through our "Everything but Arms"- initiative. These countries need market access today - not tomorrow.

I feel that the negotiations did not pay as much attention to market access as they should have. There is a large unused potential for the developing countries to not only increase trade with their developed country partners but equally so between the developing countries themselves.

It is in fact regrettable that public scrutiny of the negotiations has centred almost exclusively on the support policies of developed countries, neglecting the all-important pillar of market access. It is also regrettable that the role of the WTO and that of support policies have been misinterpreted to the degree they have.

Many such policies aim at achieving important objectives, such as the improvement of rural livelihood and the preservation of the environment, in so far as they actually achieve valid objectives with no or limited trade distorting effects. As the last CAP reform does remarkably well, support policies cannot be contested within the WTO. Fact is that the WTO was never entrusted with the task to redesign and harmonize domestic policies, and / or phase out all kinds of support, notably in agriculture. It is worth recalling that the task of the WTO is to ensure and monitor effective and fair trading rules and combat all those measures that distort trade.

A success in Cancún would have meant special and differential treatment for the developing countries to enable them to participate more effectively and more fully in the world trading system, but at a pace which took into account their state of development. Without privileged treatment most developing countries cannot at this stage compete.

The failure of the WTO negotiations in Cancun was not due to agriculture. In fact, an agreement was within reach and with a little more combined effort we could have reached a compromise. The EU offered significant and targeted measures to give developing countries a better deal. We accepted the approach that rich countries have to contribute to reduce trade distortion and shoulder the major part of the burden of liberalisation. We are still ready to contribute to reach these objectives, but the EC alone cannot solve all these problems alone. The European Commission has just tabled a comprehensive strategy to kick-start the Doha Round when WTO officials meet on 15 December in Geneva. That's why I want to take this opportunity to call upon all members of the international community to move with us in this direction. The stakes are too high to contemplate failure!

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

| Arriba |

• 32nd Session of the FAO Conference in Rome (5/12/2003)