MINISTER OF Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight, will head a Jamaican delegation to the eighth special ministerial conference in Fiji tomorrow to discuss strategies to save sugar industries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
The meeting has been called following mounting challenge to the European Union (EU) Sugar Policy by Brazil, Australia and Thailand.
According to the Europworld Web site, the three countries are opposing the right of the EU to export sugar without export refunds, as well as the special arrangements for sugar imports from a number of ACP countries, as agreed in the Uruguay Round.
But, sugar-exporting ACP countries have expressed concerns about the view of the three countries, as it could undermine preferential ACP sugar exports to Europe. The three opposing countries have also requested a WTO panel against the EU common market organisation for sugar.
If their opposition is successful, "the price paid to our sugar producers is going to be less," Minister Knight told delegates at the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) at the Jamaica Conference Centre, Saturday.
The Minister also said that if the price is less, then "we are going to be in some difficulty because we are able to maintain the industry as a result of the special pricing arrangement."
According to a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the meeting will examine, among other things, the impact of the reform of the EU's common agriculture policy in the organisation of the market for sugar as well as WTO negotiations on Agriculture and ACP strategies for safeguarding the benefits of the sugar markets.
Jamaica's delegation will include Ambassador of Jamaica to the European union, Evadne Coye and Ambassador Derrick Heaven, Executive Chairman of the Sugar Industry Authority.
