International Development written question – answered at on 14 November 2005.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made on the impact of cheap food exports to developing countries from the EU on the economies of those countries; and if he will make a statement.
The Department for International Development supports a range of research on the impacts of developed countries agricultural policies on developing countries. One current programme is with the United Nations Food and Agricultural organisation (FAO) on the impacts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agricultural policies on developing countries. The research outputs are available at: www.fao.org/trade. The Government recognise the damaging impact that trade-distorting subsidies in the EU and other OECD countries have on developing countries and we are committed to securing reductions in these subsidies, through the reform of the common agricultural policy and the World Trade Organisation talks.
The most recent common agricultural policy reform package agreed in 2003–04 marks a significant shift in the EU's agricultural policy. The de-coupling of subsidies from production should increase the market orientation of European farmers, leading to reductions in production and disposal of subsidised surpluses abroad.
The Government also fully support the commitment made as part of the WTO's Doha Development Agenda
'to reduce, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies, and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support'.
We are pushing strongly for progress towards this at the upcoming WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.
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