INTERNATIONAL PROSPECTS FOR DAIRYING IN THE NEXT WTO NEGOTIATING ROUND

The outcome of next round of multi-lateral trade negotiations to be conducted under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) could have an important impact on the world's dairy industry. Amongst the issues that could come up for negotiation in the next WTO round are the reduction, or removal, of export subsidies, reductions in import tariffs, increased market access and changes in domestic support measures. Changes in any of these areas would have important implications for the dairy sector, underlining the necessity for all parts of the industry to be as well informed as possible on potential developments.

This internet conference is hosted by the Basic Foodstuffs Service of the Commodities and Trade Division of FAO. The conference papers presented for comment and discussion were originally given at an international symposium held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 3-4 June 1999 (see below for details). The central idea behind the conference is to make the papers presented at the Buenos Aires symposium available to as wide an international audience as possible and thereby promote understanding and discussion on the possible implications of the forthcoming round of WTO negotiations for the dairy sector.

The format of the internet conference allows questions, answers and discussion to be posted and all users are actively encouraged to take part in this process. All comments and questions submitted will be moderated by FAO, which reserves the right to edit contributions received and select messages for publication on the conference site.

Conference papers are published in the original language in which they were presented. In addition, translations into either Spanish or English have been provided courtesy of the Argentine Dairy Industry Federation and the International Dairy Federation. Consequently, users have the choice of consulting a complete set of papers in either English or Spanish.

The following schedule is planned for the conference:
SEPTEMBER TO NOV./DEC.
Conference opened mid-September - sections of the programme made available for discussion over the course of the following weeks.

END OF DECEMBER
Conference closed

FEBRUARY
Summaries of the conference discussion available on the FAO internet site.


For further information regarding the conference, please contact:
Michael Griffin
Basic Foodstuffs Service (ESCB) – Room D816
Commodities and Trade Division
FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome
Italy

(All international telephone calls and faxes to Italy must include the "0" before the "6" in the area code for Rome)
Tel: (0039) 06 57053837
Fax: (0039) 06 57054495
e-mail: Michael.Griffin@fao.org

Note:
The original symposium was hosted by the Argentine National Committee of the International Dairy Federation and Argentine Dairy Industry Federation and was supported by FAO, the Pan-American Dairy Federation (FEPALE) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF). The symposium’s aim was to provide a broad, well-informed outlook on the possible outcomes of the next round of WTO negotiations that could lead to further liberalization of trade in agricultural products and their implications for the dairy industry. To this end, an expert panel of speakers was assembled. Care was taken to select a wide cross-section of regions and views, to allow participants to gain from a number of prospectives on this important issue.

PUBLISHED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
The published conference proceedings will be available in September 1999 and can be ordered from:

SPANISH VERSION
Federación Panamericana de Lecheria (FEPALE)
Ituzaingo 1324/305, 11000 Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel: (5982)916-8997
Fax: (5982)915-7670
e-mail: infoleche@fepale.org

ENGLISH VERSION
Publications
International Dairy Federation
41 Square Vergote
B-1030 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: ++32 2 7339888
Fax: ++32 2 7330413
E-mail: info@fil-idf.org