WTO Negotiations
The Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting
During the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting in December 2005, Cairns Group Ministers met on a daily basis and with counterparts from the EU and US. Ministers also welcomed Pakistan as the Group's 18 th member. For the first time, the Cairns Group held a joint Ministerial Meeting with the G20 group of developing countries. Ministers issued a joint press release , which called on the major agricultural subsidisers to return to the core issues in the Round and make meaningful progress on agriculture during the Hong Kong Meeting. The Cairns Group has since continued to work closely with the G20 as the negotiations have unfolded in a bid to conclude the Round.
Doha Round Negotiations
Under the WTO Agriculture Agreement, multilateral negotiations on agriculture commenced in January 2000.
At the November 2001 Doha Ministerial Conference, the agriculture negotiations became part of the single undertaking in which virtually all the linked negotiations (services, industrial products, intellectual property, anti-dumping and other WTO rules issues, dispute settlement, and some trade and environment issues) are to be completed by 1 January 2005.
In September and November 2002, to add momentum to the agriculture negotiations, the Cairns Group tabled its negotiating proposals to give effect to the Doha mandate. These proposals provided further detail on the Cairns Group position on the three main areas of the agriculture negotiations - market access, domestic support and export competition. (These build on earlier proposals tabled by the Cairns Group in 2000.)
On market access, the Cairns Group called for significant tariff cuts to reduce all developed country tariffs to 25 per cent or lower, an expansion of tariff quota access and improvements in tariff quota administration. On domestic support, the key features of the proposal were substantial reductions in Amber and Blue Box support and a tightening of green box provisions. Under export competition, the Cairns Group called for the elimination of export subsidies and additional disciplines on export credits, export credit guarantees or insurance programs.
Despite the Cairns Group playing an active role at the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference in September 2003 in Cancún, Mexico, the Cairns Group were disappointed with the lack of concessions from some of the major developed countries on agriculture. In its statement to the United Nations General Assembly in November 2003, the Cairns Group expressed its deep disappointment at the failure of the Cancún Ministerial Conference to advance the Doha Development Agenda and open the way for meaningful negotiations on urgently-needed agricultural trade reform.
In the aftermath of the Cancún Ministerial Conference, Cairns Group members continued to work actively toward reinvigorating the agriculture negotiations. At the 26th Cairns Group Ministerial Conference in Costa Rica in February 2004, Cairns Group Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the Doha Round and to achieving substantial progress in all three pillars of the agriculture negotiations in 2004. They also signalled their commitment to working actively with all WTO members and groups, such as the G20, towards realising an ambitious outcome on agriculture.
On 31 July, WTO members reached agreement on a Framework on Agriculture that will guide the final phase of agriculture negotiations.
The framework realises a long time Cairns Group objective of eliminating export subsidies, the worst form of agricultural subsidy. It also provides for an overall cut and for reductions in Amber box, de minimis and blue box support and for an initial down payment reduction of 20% in distorting farm support in the first year after the negotiations are completed.
On market access, the framework provides for tariff reductions leading to substantial access improvements for all products. These reductions will be negotiated through a tiered formula which ensures that higher tariffs are subject to deeper cuts.
Cairns Group Ministers met again at the 27th Cairns Group Ministerial Meeting in Colombia in April, 2005. They agreed to intensify engagement in the months leading up to the 6 th WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong in December, 2005.
The Uruguay Round
Cairns Group Members were generally pleased with the Uruguay round outcome which, for the first time, established disciplines and reduction commitments for export subsidies and domestic support and resulted in a “tariffication” of barriers at the border. Nonetheless, they believe much remains to be done to ensure that a genuine market-oriented approach to agricultural policies is achieved.
Since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, the Cairns Group has worked successfully in Geneva for early implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements relating to agriculture. It has insisted on strong operational rules for the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures. The Group has facilitated coordination among members on a host of issues, including WTO accession negotiations (especially those of China and Taiwan), EU agricultural reform, agricultural export subsidies, and trade and the environment.