RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IDA/W/11
26October 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3303)
International Dairy Agreement
INTERNATIONAL DAIRY COUNCIL
Statement byAustralia Regarding Membership
oftheNewInternational Dairy Agreement
Thefollowing communication, dated 11October 1995, hasbeenreceived fromthePermanent
Mission ofAustralia.
___________________
Having carefully considered theadvantages anddisadvantages ofmembership, theAustralian
Government hasdecided nottojointhenewInternational Dairy Agreement.
Weconsider thattheformer International Dairy Arrangement served auseful purpose during
theyears since itscommencement in1980, andprovided avaluable forum forinformation exchange
among participants, aswellplaying aroleasaprice stabilization mechanism.
However, weconsider thattimes havechanged. Theuseofcommodity agreements toformalize
world trade needs reconsideration inlightofchanging world trading conditions. With changes in
communication technology, thereislessneedforaregular forum, suchasIDAmeetings, todisseminate
information. With thespeed atwhich information transfer nowtakes place, information exchange
atIDAmeetings haslostitsformer relevance.
Theimplementation oftheUruguay Round Agreement onAgriculture willseeimproved trading
conditionsinworlddairymarkets.Althoughsignificantdistortionsremain,AustraliaregardstheUruguay
Round asanimportant firststeptowards openmarket based trade fordairy products.
Australia believes theresources currently usedbytheIDAcould more usefully beredirected
toWorld Trade Organization activities relevant toagriculture including monitoring oftheUruguay
Round implementation process.
Australia looks forward tocontinued co-operation withallitsdairy trading partners, andin
particular seeks aco-operative effort todiminish dairy tradedistortion measures. Wearekeentowork
together withothers todevelop markets offering potential forthebenefit ofalldairyproducing countries.