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Secretary-General calls for greater market access for developing countries

24 March 2004

Agriculture in the Commonwealth
"The EU, US and Japan must realise that opening their markets to the developing world and lowering trade subsidies is in everyone's interest."

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has called on developed nations to adopt radical reforms of agricultural subsidies and improve trade access for developing countries to alleviate poverty.

In an article in a new publication, 'Agriculture in the Commonwealth', the Secretary-General said greater market access would offer the quickest and most effective route towards economic progress for developing countries.

"The EU, US and Japan must realise that opening their markets to the developing world and lowering trade subsidies is in everyone's interest," said Mr McKinnon. "This will allow emerging market nations to develop their economies and provide new, untapped markets to the industrialised world."

The Secretary-General said huge agricultural subsidies in the developed countries effectively undermine every attempt by efficient agricultural exporting nations, including many Commonwealth developing countries, to add value to their primary agricultural products.

Citing figures from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, he said the liberalisation of trade in agricultural products would increase developing country exports by between US$30 billion and US$100 billion annually.

"It is absurd that farmers in the developed world continue to receive subsidies to generate goods that farmers in more competitive agricultural exporting nations can produce cheaply and efficiently," stated Mr McKinnon.

He said it is vital for developing nations to have access to markets in the rich world in order to grow.

"As long as developing countries are cut off from markets in the developed world, they stand no chance of lifting themselves out of poverty. As long as the US, Europe and Japan continue dishing out farm subsidies at the rate of US$1 billion a day, developing nations stand no chance of trading their way out of poverty. That is not only trade injustice: it is trade apartheid."

The Secretary-General said the Commonwealth is uniquely placed to achieve a workable consensus on trade with its member states spanning both ends of the development spectrum. He believed that such a consensus could be used as a basis to build broader agreement across the World Trade Organisation. And as a follow-up to the Commonwealth summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in December 2003, a Commonwealth Ministerial Trade Mission was established to help revive the Doha trade talks. Mr McKinnon said the Commonwealth can help member countries expand their trade and investment networks because of its significant role as an instrument of economic and cultural co-operation.

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