Britain Calls for Fight Against Protectionism

British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe called on industrial and developing countries to combat trade protectionism and remove barriers which impede free trading in agricultural products.

Howe said in an address to the annual meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) that success in fighting protectionism hinges on the current Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

He said Britain is committed to resisting and combatting protectionism because free trade is vital to Britain where 30 pct of the gnp comes from trade in goods and services.

Howe urged developing countries to open up their markets, remove measures distorting free trade in services and provide protection for intellectual property rights.

He said industrial nations should also adopt macro-economic policies which help reduce trade imbalances and promote stable currency relationships.

Howe said the agricultural industry, plagued by surpluses and falling commodity prices in recent years, is over subsidised and over protected. But the problem of farm surpluses must be tackled despite the fact that it is politically difficult for any government to reverse the trend of growing farm subsidies.

“This problem of over-subsidisation and over-protection of agriculture will dog us in the years ahead and it will need the sustained application of all our energy and our imagination to find solutions,” Howe said.