Mission to Geneva, Switzerland June 29 to July 4, 2006

• To attend and participate in World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meetings in Geneva.
• To meet delegations from other countries and advance Alberta’s agricultural trade interests.
• To support Alberta industry’s efforts to lobby for a substantial WTO outcome

• The Honourable Doug Horner, Minister of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD), lead a mission to Geneva, Switzerland from June 29 to July 4, 2006.
• Minister Horner met with Canadian Federal Ministers of Agriculture and International Trade and exchanged information and views regarding the ongoing WTO negotiations.
• Minister Horner met with Ambassadors and WTO negotiators from the European Union (EU), Brazil, Costa Rica and Australia. He also met with the Deputy Director General of the WTO Agriculture Division. These meetings provided a unique opportunity to gain first hand knowledge of the state of the negotiations and the critical elements necessary to successfully conclude the Round.
• While in Geneva, Minister Horner met with his counterparts from Western Provinces to advance common positions on the WTO negotiations.
• Minister Horner also met with Alberta industry representatives to exchange views on the state of play in the negotiations and explore alternative strategies for industry growth, should the negotiations fail to produce an agreement.

• Advocate Alberta’s agricultural trade interests and priorities at the WTO meetings.
• Develop strong linkages with key countries in the WTO negotiations.
• Support Alberta industry’s efforts to secure a substantive WTO Agreement.

• Ministers Strahl and Emerson briefed Provincial Ministers on a daily basis, on the state of the negotiations and Canada’s role and efforts.
• Both Federal Ministers emphasized that it is in Canada’s overall interests to seek an ambitious outcome. It became apparent that G-6 countries (Australia, EU, Japan, US, Brazil and India) had to seriously engage to break the deadlock in Agriculture. Minister Horner took the opportunity to stress the importance of a substantive agreement for Alberta’s agricultural industry and urged the federal government to keep engaged and play a leadership role at this critical juncture. He also emphasized the need to seriously consider alternative strategies to grow the industry, if the negotiations failed to result in an agreement. Ministers Strahl and Emerson invited Provinces to provide ideas on ways to move forward.
• The most difficult discussions were on the selection and treatment of various exceptions to market access, including sensitive products, special products and special safeguards.
• The US reluctance to move more substantially on reducing trade distorting domestic support prior to a written offer by the EU to improve market access essentially meant that no progress could be made in other aspects of the agriculture negotiations nor in areas outside of agriculture. Reports of the EU offering to cut up to 66 percent in the general tariff reduction formula were met with skepticism by the US and others when this offer was apparently accompanied by an attempt to seek greater protection through the special products and sensitive products categories.
• On the third day of discussions, Director General Pascal Lamy declared that the WTO negotiations were in a “crisis” mode. WTO members then mandated the Director General to begin a process of intensive engagement to try and bridge the gaps between the main protagonists.
• Lamy will conduct what is termed “shuttle diplomacy” over the next few weeks and also use the upcoming G-8 meeting to elevate the issue to Heads of State.
• It is now generally agreed that if all these efforts do not result in a consensus on key modalities by August 2006, then this Round cannot be successfully concluded by the end of this year.

• Australia feels that the makings of a good agreement are still there. It is apparent that the US is looking for a G-20 plus agreement on market access prior to committing to further cuts in domestic support. Both the US and EU understand what is at stake if the negotiations fail and this realization is now setting in with most other countries. Failure of this Round will result in a proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements and will also spur more trade disputes. Australia hopes that Lamy’s shuttle diplomacy can break the Washington/Brussels deadlock on agriculture.
• Costa Rica was of the view that the EU did not present a substantive enough offer on market access for the US to seriously engage. Costa Rica has offensive interests in both market access and domestic support and views failure of this Round gravely.
• Brazil is of the view that the US offer on domestic support needs substantial improvement and when countries are this close to reaching agreement, it would be folly to walk away now. All countries will need to be more flexible and the EU’s offer on market access has to be “real”. A failure of this Round could result in a major erosion of the WTO institution.
• It was the EU’s view that the US did not have a political mandate to conclude the negotiations at this point in time. The EU acknowledged that the concerns of the US on market access are legitimate. The costs of failure of this Round will be enormous and no country wishes to pull the plug on this Round. The EU was of the view that there will be more trade disputes if there is no agreement, and it will be the developing world that will loose the most.
• The meeting with the WTO secretariat was useful to take stock of the situation and the dynamics that prevailed over the course of the three days of discussions among WTO members. The US was uncertain as to the real level of market access that was being offered, given the failure to agree on the selection and treatment of sensitive and special products. It will become apparent over the next two weeks whether the main players have the willingness to strike a deal. The WTO Secretariat invites ideas from all interested stakeholders on ways in which the deadlock in market access and domestic subsidies can be broken. Alberta will be providing its views on key aspects of the negotiations to the federal government and the WTO Secretariat.