Thursday, September 24 • 7:00 pm

Dinner & Reception: THE NEXT MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

Welcome:  T. H. J. Joustra, Secretary General, Ministry of Agriculture, The Netherlands Keynote Address:  N. Osorio Londoño, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, World Trade Organization Friday, September 25 • 9:00-5:30 pm

Session 1: THE NEED FOR FURTHER AGRICULTURAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION

Opening Presentation:  Lord Plumb of Coleshill, Member, European Parliament & IPC Chairman What should be the agricultural objectives of the 1999 trade round? Reaction:  Arlindo Cunha, Member of the European Parliament

Session 2: THE NEW TRADE AGENDA: FOOD SAFETY & THE ENVIRONMENT

Anthony Arke, Secretary General, Europa Bio How will genetically modified organisms (GMOs) be covered by the WTO? Kent Jones, Professor, Babson College, Massachusetts Should environmental regulations be covered by the WTO?

Luncheon Address: THE UNITED STATES POSITION ON THE NEXT TRADE ROUND

Peter Scher, Special Trade Negotiator for Agriculture, Office of the US Trade Representative

Session 3: INVOLVING A WIDER SET OF TRADING INTERESTS

Timothy Fischer, Deputy Trade Minister, Australia What will be the role of the Cairns Group? Tobias Takavarasha, Permanent Secretary for Agriculture, Zimbabwe The Role of developing countries

Session 4: CHINA & JAPAN: FOOD SECURITY AND TRADE

Liang Qu, Permanent Representative of the PR China to the UN agencies for Food & Agriculture What are China's expectations from the round? Jiro Shiwaku, President, Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corporation, Japan The Japanese case for rural sustainability and food security

This year marks 50 years since the foundation of the world's trading system — the GATT, now the WTO — came into being. For the food and agricultural industry, the next round of multilateral trading negotiations will be crucial. Not only will we build on the important first steps taken in the Uruguay Round, but we will also confront several important new issues. I hope you will join the International Policy Council in Brussels for the 2nd Annual IPC Agri-Forum, where we will look ahead to these new issues and the new players in the coming round. The high level discussions with leaders in the agri-food industry, government, and the farm sector will provide an informative, forward-thinking look at this next stage and its importance to the food and agricultural sector.

The 2nd Annual IPC Agri-Forum will consider what can and should be achieved in agricultural trade reform in the next round of world trade talks. The spring-board for the discussions will be an IPC position paper setting out specific negotiating objectives for the WTO talks. As major proponents of the next round, top EU and US officials will respond to the paper and explain what the EU and US expect from the round. The seminar registrants will be asked to contribute their thoughts as well.

More countries than ever before are likely to have an effect on the direction of the next round. Questions to be addressed are: Will developing countries exercise a louder voice? What role will the Cairns Group play this time? What impact will China have on the multilateral trading system and what does China want from the round?

Issues such as food safety, biotechnology, the environment and food security have emerged as important factors likely to receive significant attention from the multilateral trading system. The 2nd Annual IPC Agri-Forum will discuss whether and how such issues can be covered by the World Trade Organization.