CANADA OUTLINES GATT AGRICULTURAL REFORM PLAN

  Canadian Trade Minister Pat
  Carney said that agricultural policies should not hurt world
  international trade and should therefore become more price
  responsive over time.
      She told delegates at the informal meeting of trade
  ministers that this was one of five principles Canada wanted
  adopted in reforming agriculture in the General Agreement on
  Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Secondly, support for agriculture
  should avoid production incentives, and thirdly, countries
  should freeze and seek to reduce government aid measures that
  distorted world prices, Carney said.
      Carney said the fourth principle was that countries should
  not introduce new import barriers not mandated by existing
  legislation and the fifth was that these basic principles must
  be implemented collectively.
      Carney later told Reuters the Canadian guidelines are
  basically compatible with the seven point Australian proposals
  announced in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
      European trade sources said the conference welcomed the
  Canadian initiative but some delegates, and not only the
  European Community, voiced reservations about some of the
  principles.
      Carney said there was a lot of political will among the
  ministers here to complete the Uruguay Round of GATT in under
  four years and that there is also a realisation that it has to
  be done in a balanced way.
      "The consensus view was to proceed as fast as we can on a
  broad front and see what areas emerge where we can get early
  conclusion," she said.
      However, the meeting did not identify what those areas are,
  Carney said.  She said Canada/U.S. Bilateral trade
  negotiations, which must be concluded at least in draft form by
  October, are progressing well.
  

