Taiwan and eight other countries will submit a motion regarding non-trade concerns (NTCs) on the second day of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, calling on all WTO members to value the importance and social benefits of agriculture in addition to food production.
The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference runs through Sunday in Cancun, Mexico.
Meanwhile, a bilateral consultation meeting between Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) and his South Korean counterpart set for Wednesday afternoon was canceled after a South Korean trade activist died of a self-inflicted wound, according officials.
The spokesman said that Taiwan and South Korea share similar views regarding the agricultural negotiations, and both belong to the NTCs group, which stresses the environmental role of agriculture, rural development, the viability of rural community, as well as food security.
In the Ministerial Declaration adopted by the WTO in Doha in November 2001, the ministers confirmed that "NTCs will be taken into account in the negotiations as provided for in the Agreement of Agriculture."
Lin and Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章), Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, are scheduled to hold bilateral consultations with economic and agricultural officials from various countries during the ministerial conference.
On Wednesday, Lin met with New Zealand's Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity, Forestry and Trade Negotiations Jim Sutton, and with Mexican Economics Minister Fernando Canales Clariond, according to the spokesman.
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