EU Ag. Commissioner to attend 5-nations in Qnsld

EU Agriculture Commissioner to attend five-nations meeting in Queensland

Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU’s chief agricultural negotiator and Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, will attend the QUINT meeting at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland from 19-21 August.

The QUINT is an informal meeting of farm ministers from Australia, the US, Japan, Canada and the EU. Their previous meeting was held in July 2002 in Nara, Japan.

Agriculture ministers and the Commissioner will have the opportunity to take part in an open exchange of views on different agricultural issues, such as prospects for supply and demand in world agriculture, bilateral and multilateral agricultural trade developments and recent and planned agricultural reform proposals.

On her side, Commissioner Fischer Boel will present a paper on Europe’s rural development policies. The informal meeting is also very timely for taking stock of WTO negotiations on agriculture in the Doha Development Round (DDA) as they move into a crucial stage in preparation for the next WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.

The QUINT starts on the Friday (19/8) evening with a reception hosted by Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran. The two plenary sessions will be on Saturday and Sunday morning. On Saturday afternoon, the Commissioner will take part in a visit to a meat processing plant in south-eastern Queensland.

ENDS

More information on the EU’s agricultural policy, go to - http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/index_en.htm

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