UN CONFERENCE FORMALLY ADOPTS NEW RUBBER PACT
A new International Natural Rubber
Agreement, INRA, was formally adopted by a United Nations
Conference today.
    The new accord is due to replace the current one, which
expires in October.
    Conference chairman Manaspas Xuto of Thailand said the
formal adoption represented "a historic moment."
    The latest round of talks, which began March 9, represented
the fourth attempt to negotiate a new INRA in nearly two years.
Xuto described the negotiations as "by no means easy, and we
often faced problems."
    The new pact is due to enter into force provisionally when
ratified by countries accounting for 75 pct of world net
exports and 75 pct of net imports.
    The new INRA will enter into force definitively when
governments accounting for at least 80 pct of net exports and
80 pct of net imports have ratified it.
    It will be open for signature from May 1 to December 31
this year.
    It is expected that provisional entry into force will take
at least 12 to 14 months from now, delegates said.
    During the hiatus between the two agreements buffer stock
operations will be suspended, but the International Natural
Rubber Council will remain in place.
    Xuto told the conference both the 1979 agreement and its
successor were aimed at meeting the needs of producers and
consumers of natural rubber over the long term.
    Both had interest in stabilising prices and supplies, Xuto
added. He also praised "the spirit of 'give' and 'take' that
prevailed throughout this session."
    Ahmed Farouk of Malaysia, speaking on behalf of producers,
said the conclusion of the new pact showed that the mutuality
of interests between producers and consumers is now as valid as
it was when negotiations of the first agreement began in the
1970s.
    Farouk said the ability to manage inventories on the basis
of predictable stable prices is "a vital consideration for
multinational tire companies, whether or not consuming
countries as a whole claimed to be no longer so seriously
concerned about security of the rubber supply."
    He said producers considered that the 1979 agreement had
served the purpose for which it was created.
    Farouk urged consuming countries to promote early accession
to the new pact "to avoid an undue gap between the old and the
new.
    Gerard Guillonneau of France, speaking for consumers,
agreed that the 1979 agreement had worked relatively well.
    But as economic conditions had changed, he said, consumers
had been led to make proposals for improving its functioning.
    He added that the adoption of the new agreement "attests to
the importance of rubber and confidence in the rubber industry."
 Reuter
