EU agriculture supremo visits Switzerland

The European Commissioner for agriculture, Franz Fischler (pictured), has been visiting Switzerland prior to the resumption of talks on the subject within the World Trade Organisation.

The European Commissioner for agriculture, Franz Fischler, has been visiting Switzerland prior to the resumption of talks on the subject within the World Trade Organisation. His agenda has included meetings with the economics minister, Pascal Couchepin, as well as the WTO director general, Mike Moore.

Negotiations on agriculture within the WTO are due to resume next week, in keeping with the schedule agreed during the Uruguay Round. Last year’s ministerial summit in Seattle exposed deep divisions between the organisation’s members on the issue.

Following his meeting with Fischler on Monday evening, Couchepin’s advisers said the discussions had been productive. The minister’s goals had been achieved, they said, with ideas put forward at the Seattle summit being developed further.

During the meeting, Couchepin and Fischler discussed general agricultural policy and plans for future reform. They agreed that on certain agricultural themes, the EU and Switzerland had very similar views.

Prior to his encounter with Couchepin, Fischler visited Moore at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters. He emphasised the need for new agricultural talks to get under way as soon as possible, but added that the talks themselves should not be rushed.

With the negotiations expected to continue until 2003, he said discussions during the first year should concentrate on concrete proposals concerning subsidies and market access, as well as certain non-commercial preoccupations.

swissinfo with agencies