Agreement to abolish agricultural export subsidies welcomed

20 December 2015
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Federated Farmers welcomes WTO agreement to abolish agricultural export subsidies

Federated Farmers welcomes the successful conclusion of the WTO Nairobi package reached at the 10th World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Kenya, where an agreement to eliminate agricultural export subsidies has been reached.

“This is a positive and potentially significant deal. Given the scale and significance of New Zealand’s agricultural export earnings, the removal of any instrument that can distort market forces and disadvantage our exporters is an important step forward,” says Federated Farmers National President Dr William Rolleston.

“Achievements at a WTO level also remove the need to develop bilateral solutions with individual trading partners, so we hope there are more deals of this nature to come from the WTO.”

Dr Rolleston says the deal completes a year of important international wins in what have been difficult market conditions for much of New Zealand’s farming sector.

“It’s been a challenging year for many farmers with drought, floods and a prolonged period of low dairy prices, but the Nairobi agreement rounds off a series of key international achievements during 2015 which have strengthened the medium term outlook. There were big wins for New Zealand in the TPP and last week there was more good news for farmers with a Paris Agreement on climate change that identified the need to balance emissions reduction with food supply,” says Dr Rolleston.

ENDS

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