WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/145
4 April 2001
(01-1684)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  English
SIXTH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
22-23 MARCH 2001
Statement by Slovenia
G/AG/NG/W101  (Proposal by Norway)
The Delegation of Slovenia would like to express its sincere appreciation to Norway for the
comprehensive proposal.  We are of the opinion that the value of general principles which are
presented therein can not be denied.  One of these principles is that due consideration must be given tothe different types of national agricultural economies and policy objectives, which derive from each
country's specific historical, geographical and cultural backgrounds.  We are pleased to note that
Norway recognized the specific situation of the economies in transition as well as the right of every
country to secure the coexistence of various types of agriculture.
Recognition of those differences directly le ads to the non-trade concerns (NTCs), where
different countries are giving different weights and priorities to a wide range of individual NTCs.  We
have found a particular value in the Norwegian submission, emphasising that NTCs are often unique
or specific to agriculture, often have public goods characteristics and can only be achieved together
with agricultural production.  Because of such nature of the NTCs they could be addressed only
through appropriate combination of the policy measures.
Regarding market access we agree that specific flexibility should be given to allow selective
reduction commitments as we have already introduced in common proposal (document
G/AG/NG/W/57).  Diversity of different situations in countries should be recognized also in the
context of the market access commitments.  This is of particular importance for small net-importing
economies such as Slovenia with a narrow product range of domestic production.
Regarding domestic support, Slovenia shares the position of Norway in terms of  maintenance
of the concept of Blue and Green Boxes.  We believe that the measures in question do not cause
serious market disturbances if they are accompanied by precise and transparent rules.  Moreover, for a
country in transition such as Slovenia, the recognition of a special situation concerning domesticsupport commitments, due to a transitional process from a planned to a market oriented economy, is
needed even more.
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