Fed: Lamb dispute should be over by end of Sept, says Vaile=2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2001
Fed: Lamb dispute should be over by end of Sept, says Vaile=2

"We are working on the process of developing an agenda for the next round of multilateral
trade negotiations hopefully to be launched ... later on this year to address some of
these issues.

"It's one thing to have a set of rules but when the remedies take so long to implement,
it is unacceptable, we have got to improve that process."

Sheepmeat Australia executive director Scott Hanson told the Seven network this morning
he would have preferred to see the issue go to arbitration, an option the minister said
may not have guaranteed an end-date to the issue.

"The patience of sheepmeat producers has run out," Mr Hansen said.

"We would have preferred to have seen arbitration triggered yesterday.

"We've heard eight months of talk out of America about how close they are to resolving
this issue.

"We can't see anything that would move this forward any quicker within the next two weeks."

However, Mr Vaile said if Australia took the arbitration option then there would have
been no guarantee of a time for a decision.

"At least this way we have locked in an end-date of 45 days from yesterday. We will
achieve the same outcome or possibly a better outcome in the next two weeks of discussions
with the Americans by going down the path the government has taken."

Mr Vaile said Australia needed to give the US every opportunity to succeed in negotiating
with its farmers over the tariff issue.

"That's why we have been prepared to agree to a further two weeks of negotiations but
subject to a commitment, which we have received from the US administration, to conclude
this either by arbitration at the end of September or by negotiation at the end of August,"

he said.

Mr Hansen estimated the tariffs had cost Australian lamb producers $30 million in lost
exports during the past two years, despite the industry being the world's most efficient.

AAP kp/vr

KEYWORD: LAMB 2ND D/L 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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