Japan farmers break open sake over WTO failure
Thursday, 31 July 2008
TOKYO, July 30 (AFP): Japanese farmers today rejoiced at the failure of talks in Geneva on a global free trade pact, which they feared would open the door to a flood of cheap imports.
"We are relieved, if not delighted, at the collapse of the talks," said Yoshiyuki Kiri, an official at a union of agricultural cooperatives in the southern prefecture of Kagoshima.
He said a compromise that was being considered at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks "would have killed our farming and the whole community."
"What was being discussed at the latest negotiations was really unfair. Farming is about more than the principle of free trade. It's the foundation of our community," he said.
His tone was sharply different from Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who earlier voiced regret that the Geneva talks collapsed.
But Japanese ministers in Geneva were openly critical of proposals during the talks to cut tariffs on certain products considered sensitive, such as rice.
"We are thankful to the Japanese government for understanding our position in their bargaining efforts," said Akira Banzai, chairman of the union of agricultural cooperatives in Niigata prefecture, a main rice producing region.
He said he believed the government thinks "it's better not to agree if it is a bad agreement that will cause us to shrink or force us to withdraw from domestic agricultural production."
"We are relieved, if not delighted, at the collapse of the talks," said Yoshiyuki Kiri, an official at a union of agricultural cooperatives in the southern prefecture of Kagoshima.
He said a compromise that was being considered at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks "would have killed our farming and the whole community."
"What was being discussed at the latest negotiations was really unfair. Farming is about more than the principle of free trade. It's the foundation of our community," he said.
His tone was sharply different from Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who earlier voiced regret that the Geneva talks collapsed.
But Japanese ministers in Geneva were openly critical of proposals during the talks to cut tariffs on certain products considered sensitive, such as rice.
"We are thankful to the Japanese government for understanding our position in their bargaining efforts," said Akira Banzai, chairman of the union of agricultural cooperatives in Niigata prefecture, a main rice producing region.
He said he believed the government thinks "it's better not to agree if it is a bad agreement that will cause us to shrink or force us to withdraw from domestic agricultural production."