TPP must deliver, say beef producers

Beef producers from five Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries are calling for a high-quality market access deal on beef to be secured at the TPP ministerial meeting in Hawaii this month.

Negotiators and trade ministers from the 12 TPP countries will meet in Maui in late July, with the goal of reaching agreement on the outstanding issues across the TPP agenda.

The Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA)1 says it is vital that a comprehensive, trade liberalising deal be finalised.

In so doing, it would help to ensure that beef producers and their supply chain partners can reap the maximum benefits of the envisaged tariff cuts and that commercial entities can utilize the other trade-facilitating elements of the agreement as soon as possible.

After five years of negotiations, the TPP must not be allowed to drift or lose momentum at this crucial stage. There is so much to gain from trade reform – with more seamless trade rules, reduced costs and less red tape making it easier for food suppliers, such as the FNBA, to respond to growing global consumer demand.

The FNBA has consistently called for a non-discriminatory, plurilateral TPP deal that will liberalise the trade in beef products and thereby provide beef farmers, processors and exporters with new opportunities across much of the Asia-Pacific region.

The Alliance has been buoyed by positive signals from various TPP governments in recent weeks. Now is the time to convert this into action - and deliver on the vision2 of “a comprehensive, next generation regional agreement that liberalizes trade and investment and addresses new and traditional trade issues and 21st century challenges”.

1 The FNBA comprises the Cattle Council of Australia, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Confederacion Nacional de Organizaciones Ganaderas, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Together those organisations represent producers from countries that account for one- third of global beef production and approximately half of global beef exports.

2 Trans-Pacific Partnership Leaders Statement, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 2011

ENDS

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