YEUTTER SEES GATT CONSENSUS ON FARM TRADE REFORM

  U.S. Trade Representative
  Clayton Yeutter said trade ministers meeting here have reached
  a general consensus on agricultural trade reform under the
  latest Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
  Trade (GATT).
      Yeutter gave no precise details of the understanding but
  told journalists the consensus covers the principles involved
  in agricultural trade reform and what needs to be done to
  improve the global situation in agriculture.
      Delegates from 22 countries are meeting informally to
  discuss progress made since the latest GATT round was launched
  in Punta del Este, Uruguay, last September.
      Yeutter said "at least people seem to be going down the same
  road...But how that translates ultimately into negotiations is
  another matter entirely."
      There seems to be an understanding of the need to deal with
  the problem quickly and "a more common understanding of how we
  are going to get from here to there," Yeutter said.
      However, the hard work is still to come, with a couple of
  years of tough negotiations ahead, he said.
      "It is ludicrous for the nations of the world to plough
  immense amounts of financial resources into the production of
  items that nobody wants to buy," he said.
      He said the long-term answer is to switch some of the
  financial resources now committed to agriculture to other more
  productive areas. This would help agriculture because some its
  inefficient non-productive segments would stop operating, he
  said.
      Individual segments in many countries may lose in the
  process, but it should result in a more rational system of
  world-wide production within 10 or 15 years, he said.
      It is important that the agriculture negotiations reach a
  relatively early conclusion because the U.S. Is spending 26
  billion dlrs a year and the European Community probably more
  than that, which is an ineffective use of financial resources,
  he said.
      Asked about the prospect of a priority for agriculture in
  the negotiations, he said "one has to be politically
  realistic... If there is any chance of getting it (agricultural
  trade reform) done in two to three years it's going to have to
  be as part of a larger package."
  

