./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/312
3 September 1999
(99-3675)
Original:  English
NINETEENTH MINISTERIAL MEETING OF THE CAIRNS GROUP
Buenos Aires, Argentina
27-29 August 1999
Communication from the Cairns Group1
The following communiqué from the 19th Cairns Group Ministerial meeting held in Buenos
Aires on 27-29 August 1999, has been received from the Permanent Mission of Australia with request
that it be circulated to Members.
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Communiqué
1. The nineteenth Ministerial meeting of the Cairns Group was held in Buenos Aires from
27-29 August.
2. Ministers reaffirmed the objectives they set for the negotiations in the Cairns Group Vision
Statement released last year.  The Group wants freer, fairer and more market-oriented trading
conditions and trade in agriculture on the same footing with trade in other products. Ministers
highlighted that this will require the elimination of export subsidies and trade-distorting domestic
support, and major gains in market access.
3. Ministers said there is no justification to discriminate against agriculture in the WTO.  It is
totally unacceptable to the Cairns Group that the most efficient agricultural producers are penalised
while barriers to non-agricultural trade are eliminated or reduced to a minimum.  This must be
remedied.  Cairns Group farm leaders meeting in Buenos Aires also delivered the same message to
Ministers.
4.  Trade in agriculture remains subject to profound and costly distortions.  Protectionist policies
have severely hampered economic growth and damaged employment.  In 1998, agricultural support
within the OECD totalled some US$362 billion - higher than the US$326 billion provided when the
Uruguay Round began.
5. When we conclude the next round of agriculture negotiations, to be launched in December at
the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference, it will be nearly twenty years since the world committed to
fundamental reform. The next negotiations must now place agriculture squarely within general WTO
rules to eliminate inequities in support and protection.
6. In the final stage of preparations for the Se attle Conference, Cairns Group members will be
pushing for clear and detailed decisions in Seattle to ensure agriculture negotiations begin on time,conclude before 2003, and have an explicit negotiating timetable to deliver required outcomes.
                                                     
1 Cairns Group: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ca nada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia,
New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay.WT/L/312
Page 2
A detailed negotiating plan is essential to end, once and for all, the unequal treatment of agriculture in
the WTO.
7. Ministers noted the current difficult international market conditions for many agricultural
products and called upon all countries to avoid resorting to protectionism. The major subsidisers
should stop using export subsidies, apply disciplines on export credits, and eliminate trade distortions.This would be a strong sign of commitment to fundamental reform for the launch of the negotiations.
8. Ministers acknowledged the legitimate concerns expressed by many developing countries
about the effect of distortive practices of some developed countries on market access for their exports,
food security and rural development needs.  The Group is committed to ensuring that the next
negotiations result in concrete special and differential treatment provisions to address these issues.
9. Major developed countries must practice in agriculture what they preach for other sectors.
They must accept their responsibility to ensure that the global benefits of agricultural trade reform arerealised.  For much of the developing world, agriculture is the key for growth and employment.  But
high levels of protection and subsidies in some i ndustrialised countries block the development process
and must be stopped.
10. Some WTO Members suggest that the so-called “multifunctional” objectives of agriculture -
rural employment, landscape and the like - justify maintaining high levels of agricultural support andprotection.  Just as it would not be acceptable to introduce “multifunctionality” in the WTO for
manufacturing and services, there is similarly no justification to apply it in agriculture.  Non-trade
objectives should not be used as a smoke screen for protectionist policies which perpetuate poverty,
hunger and environmental degradation.  The WTO recognises non-trade concerns and these can be
addressed through targeted and transparent policies which do not distort production and trade.
11. Cairns Group Ministers reaffirmed the importa nce of decision-making based on sound science
for the establishment and application of technical measures, standards and regulations and
communication thereof.  They noted that issues had arisen which were affecting trade in products of
biotechnology, including agricultural products, and said the Group is prepared to consider how these
might be addressed by the WTO.
12. Cairns Group Ministers welcomed Bolivia, Costa Rica and Guatemala as observers.  They
also welcomed their discussions with United States Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, on
preparations for the negotiations and developments in US agricultural policy.  The US offered to
cooperate with the Cairns Group which leads the charge for far-reaching reform of global trade rules
for agriculture.
13. Cairns Group Ministers will meet again in Seattle before the WTO Ministerial Conference
and agreed to hold their annual meeting in 2000 in Canada.
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