WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/166
9 April 1999
(99-1423)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Negotiations on Agriculture
Objectives for the Agriculture Negotiations
Communication from Australia
The following communication, dated 9 April 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Australia.
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1. Australia submitted the Cairns Group Vision Statement in WT/GC/W/156 which sets out the
Group’s objectives for the agriculture negotiations.  The following specific proposal is consistent with
that Statement and is presented for consideration in the preparatory process.
2. Proposal:
2. That the objective for the agriculture negotiations be, by a specified date, to put trade in
agricultural goods on the same basis as trade in other goods and establish a fair and market oriented
agricultural trading system which corrects and prevents restrictions and distortions.
3. Background:
3. In the 50 years since the GATT was established, it has provided a rules-based framework
which has been the basis for a remarkable expansion in trade and world income.  Barriers to trade in
industrial products have been significantly reduced: the average tariff is less than 4%; export subsidies
have been banned; restrictions, subsidies and non-tariff measures are subject to tight disciplines.
4. In contrast, and despite the first steps taken in the Uruguay Round, protectionism in the
agricultural sector continues to flourish.  Ta riffs of 300% and more are not uncommon; export
subsidies, including the undisciplined use of export credits, and high levels of trade-distorting
domestic subsidies abound.  Agriculture-specific rules provide for other “special” exemptions from
normal WTO rules for trade in agricultural products.  The levels of protection and the contribution toglobal trade distortions vary across WTO Members.  The support provided to agriculture in OECD
countries in 1997 reached around US$ 280 billion, an amount greater than the total value of exports
from Latin America and the Carribean.
5. As a result, Members with a comparative advantage in agriculture, including many
developing and least developed countries that are dependent on this sector, have not received thebenefits of an open and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system.WT/GC/W/166
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6. It is essential that the next WTO agriculture negotiations achieve the fundamental reform
which will put trade in agricultural goods on the same basis as trade in other goods.  This is required
in order to establish a fair and market-oriented agriculture trading system which corrects and prevents
restrictions and distortions in world agriculture ma rkets.  It is not acceptable that discrimination
continues against trade in agriculture while barriers to capital, technology and industrial goods arereduced to a minimum or eliminated.
7. The Ministerial Decision in Seattle which will launch the agriculture negotiations must set the
overarching objective and provide for further substantial commitments on market access, export
competition, domestic support, and special and differential treatment.  The Decision must specify the
scope, structure, timeframe and other details necessary to ensure that the negotiations are completed
as soon as possible.
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