TOKYO -- Jitters spread among farmers in Japan Friday as the Japanese farm minister indicated he will take a flexible stance on so-called "sensitive products" at imminent minis-terial talks on trade liberalization under the World Trade Organization.
The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives decided to hold a rally of some 3,000 farmers from across Japan in Tokyo on Dec. 9 to urge the government not to make any com-promise unfavorable to Japan's agriculture at a ministerial meeting of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks being considered for next month.
The umbrella body of agricultural cooperatives, known as JA Zenchu, made the decision at a meeting of officials from its prefectural chapters hastily convened after Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries Minister Shigeru Ishiba said, "To secure enough (sensitive farm prod-ucts) is not the only thing that matters."
"I will find out the best national interest for Japan and will do my utmost based on it" at the coming meeting, Ishiba told reporters.
Sensitive agricultural products are those to be exempted from steep tariff reductions.
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Japan is seeking at least 8 percent of all farm products to be treated as such, while WTO Secretary General Pascal Lamy has proposed an exemption range from 4 percent to 6 per-cent, which would force Japan and other countries to substantially cut import tariffs on many politically sensitive products, such as rice, wheat and dairy products.
Ishiba will visit Geneva from Sunday to Tuesday to explain Japan's stance on farm trade in his meetings with Lamy and other top WTO officials.
Following Ishiba's remarks, a senior farm cooperative official in Kagoshima Prefecture said, "We are concerned" because food importers, other than Japan, are reportedly inclined to accept the 4 to 6 percent limit.
Trade and foreign ministers from the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopera-tion forum agreed Thursday in Lima, Peru, to support the promotion of the Doha Round free trade talks.
Akio Shibata, head of the Marubeni Research Institute, said the WTO ministerial meeting, if held as expected, may agree on modalities of the Doha Round talks as many countries are worried about a resurgence of protectionism as long as the Doha Round stays in a rupture.
