(Lahore, Pakistan) – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) regrets not being able to support the Cairns Farm Leaders communiqué that was discussed today in Lahore, Pakistan.

For CFA, it is absolutely essential to seek improvements in the three pillars of the WTO agriculture negotiations. CFA is seeking improvements in market access with flexibility for sensitive products, meaningful and significant reductions in domestic support, and the elimination of export subsidies.

"Unfortunately, the communiqué did not emphasize enough the impact of domestic support on market access. In addition, the statements on market access improvements do not represent an acceptable outcome for Canadian agriculture," said Bob Friesen, CFA president.

As in previous Cairns Farm Leaders’ meeting, CFA defended a trade position that works for all sectors of Canadian agriculture and its farmers. During today’s meeting, it was obvious that CFA faced the same difficulty our government faced when it could not support the Cairns proposal on sensitive products. The government has continued to work for the interests of the entire Canadian agriculture industry and CFA will continue to support them in that fight.
 
"The communiqué did not achieve the very plausible objective of real, aggressive market access improvements while ensuring flexibility for sensitive and special products," said Friesen.

The final communiqué indicates that CFA, representing all sectors and all regions of Canada, is not in a position to endorse all the views contained in the communiqué.

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.