. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/80
28 November 2000
(00-5101)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  English
FOURTH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
15-17 NOVEMBER 2000
Statement by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand
Cairns Group Proposal on Market Access (G/AG/NG/W/54)
Market access concession is an important component in the mandated negotiations on
agriculture.  Market access is fundamental to any policy aimed at enhancing the participation and
improving the share of developing countries in international trade.  In this context, we support thesubmission by the Cairns Group on a concrete proposal on market access.
The flexibility allowed in the Uruguay Round for tariff reductions enabled countries to
introduce minimum tariff cuts on sensitive products while affecting higher reductions in products that
are not significantly traded.  This dilution effect served to perpetuate the gap in protection levelsamong agricultural products and frustrated the transl ation of tariff concessions into meaningful market
access.
Distortions in tariff levels are further preserved through the persistence of tariff peaks.  Tariff
escalation likewise remains considerable in particular, on processed products, most of which are of
export interest to developing countries.
On tariff quotas, we are of the view that trade volumes under tariff quotas must be increased
substantially in order to provide major expansion in market access for agricultural products,
particularly for high value added exports of developing countries.  We stress the need for improving
disciplines in the administration of tariff quotas so that they do ensure real market access.
As we stated at the outset, we consider market access concessions as a principal element in
the reform process.  However, we also believe that the objective of fair and market oriented trade in
agriculture would best be achieved not by implementing deep cuts in tariffs per se, but more
importantly, by correcting the imbalances in the levels of protection and distortions within product
categories and among Members.
Having said that, we would like to draw attention to what we believe is an essential feature of
the Cairns Group’s proposal.  The proposal undersc ored that addressing export subsidies and trade-
distorting support is important if developing countries are expected to participate fully and fairly in
delivering market access reform.  The relationship between border measures, export subsidies anddomestic support could result in a situation where a Member’s agricultural trading regime is not
liberalized in net terms.G/AG/NG/W/80
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We believe that if the negotiations are to achieve a fairer trading system, they should ensure
that the most trade-distorting measures are eliminat ed.  They must, moreover, ensure that the depth of
adjustments by Members correspond to their level of contribution to market distortions.  A levelling
of the playing field suggests that developing countries' commitment to market access can only be
directly proportional to developed countries' commitments in export subsidies and domestic support.Developing countries cannot liberalize for as long as these trade-distorting measures persist in the
agricultural regimes of developed countries.
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