The EU proposes ministers agree to larger reductions for cotton than in agriculture as a whole in all three pillars (for export subsidies, which are going to be eliminated anyway, this would be by earlier elimination). The EU says it is willing to eliminate all duties, quotas and other quantitative restrictions on imports from all countries, the most trade-distorting domestic supports (AMS), and all export subsidies, from “day one” (the first day that the final agreement is implemented), and to apply disciplines on Blue Box subsidies from “day one”.
Moreover, on an autonomous basis, the [EU] is prepared to give an assurance to cotton producer countries that all these commitments will already be in place, as far as the [EU] is concerned, from 2006,” EU Ambassador Carlo Trojan told the meeting.
The discussion: The G-20 (Brazil speaking), Cuba, and the African Group (Egypt speaking) broadly supported the African Four's statement. The US said it agrees that the outcome on cotton should be “more than the average” (i.e. the general outcome in agriculture), therefore, to be meaningful, the outcome in agriculture should also be strong. Several countries said they would study the EU's proposal as well.
The chairperson's summing up. Ambassador Falconer said the decision to “recalibrate” the objectives for Hong Kong without reducing the ambition for the final result of the negotiation accentuates the need for even more specific decisions on cotton at the conference. He urged members to respond and queried whether anyone would object to a clear statement committing members to more ambitious and quicker results in cotton.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
