New Zealand, Australia farming heads make joint call for tariff-free Pacific trade deal

WELLINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The heads of the farming industry bodies in New Zealand and Australia have issued a joint call for a total end to tariffs and other trade barriers on food and agricultural products under the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement.

Federated Farmers of New Zealand and the National Farmers Federation of Australia made the call at the 15th round of TPP negotiations, in which they are both participating, in Auckland Tuesday.

"Liberalization must result in the elimination of all agricultural and food product tariffs and reform non-tariff measures," Federated Farmers of New Zealand President Bruce Wills said in the joint statement.

"If we want to get trade going, especially by small and medium sized agri-business enterprises, then we need all the blocks to free trade removed."

Australia and New Zealand wanted an agreement that set the benchmark for future multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements, he said.

Australian National Farmers Federation President Jock Laurie said agriculture needed to be at the heart of negotiations and the result "a net and sustainable creation of jobs."

Both organizations supported conclusion of the negotiations next year, referring to the October 2013 deadline set by U.S. President Barack Obama.

"From our perspective, genuine agricultural trade liberalization in the TPP context is highly important to the agricultural sector's future prosperity and competitiveness," Laurie said.

"A free trade outcome is needed to drive resource efficiency needed to meet the growth of global demand for food and fiber off the back of an increasing world population."

Tariffs and other barriers to trade in food and agricultural products are believed to be a major point of contention in the TPP talks, with analysts saying that even if U.S. negotiators agreed, any deal could be derailed by members of the U.S. Congress beholden to powerful domestic dairy interests.

Opponents of the TPP are planning a series of protest events over the duration of the talks, which opened Monday with a reported 500 delegates and will continue behind closed doors until Dec. 12.

Calls mounted Tuesday for the New Zealand government to ease restrictions on access to the talks, which have been cloaked in secrecy since they began.

The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network on Tuesday hit out at the "unprecedented increase in the level of secrecy" after more than 20 international representatives of health, union, consumer and environment organizations were locked out of the talks venue in Auckland.

"It is bad enough that negotiating documents are secret and not available for public discussion. But at previous talks we have at least been allowed access to the public areas of the venue so we could speak to negotiators informally between sessions and arrange appointments with them," Network convenor Dr Patricia Ranald said in a statement.

"In Auckland we are only being allowed in for one day of formal presentations, and locked out for the other nine days. This is ironic for New Zealand, which has a reputation as a vibrant and open democracy."

The current TPP trade agreement between Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand came into force in 2006, but the United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada and Mexico have joined negotiations to expand the agreement.

Japan announced its interest in joining the TPP in 2010, when the negotiations began, and Thailand voiced its interest in joining last month.

December 4, 2012

Source: Xinhua