Farmers and Third World activists should agree a common position on trade liberalisation, including access to European markets for exports from poor countries, according to the Minister of State for Development Co-operation, Mr Tom Kitt.
Mr Kitt, who is one of three Government Ministers attending next month's trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, said he was confident there was sufficient common ground between the two groups. This was especially true since the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy announced last June. He pledged to facilitate talks if this was required.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, and the Minister of State for Trade, Mr Michael Ahern, will also attend the Cancun conference of the World Trade Organisation from September 10th-14th. This latest round of world trade talks will be dominated by demands from developing countries for greater access to western markets for their agricultural and industrial goods, and for cheaper availability of patent drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other killer diseases.
Ireland, as a major exporter of manufactured goods, broadly supports greater liberalisation of the world economy. At the same time, it is also anxious to protect the farming sector by resisting open access for agricultural imports from low-income countries.
Mr Kitt said yesterday he believed the reform of the CAP meant that the EU's position was now more flexible than before. This would inject new momentum into the negotiations on agriculture and improve the prospects for agreement.
"The most important thing we can do to help poor countries is to let them trade their way out of poverty," he said.
Ireland would be pressing for an expansion of the "Everything But Arms" initiative, which has allowed some developing countries duty-free and quota-free access to EU markets for all but bananas, rice and sugar. Ireland is also helping developing countries to prepare for complex trade talks and to resolve trade disputes, Mr Kitt said.