Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan says she has serious concerns about recent developments in negotiations on a new world trade agreement.
Ms Coughlan says she has difficulties with commitments in a recent paper issued by Crawford Falconer, Chairman of the WTO Negotiating Committee on Agriculture.
Ms Coughlan says she is concerned about the scale and pace of reductions proposed for domestic supports to agriculture and especially the impact on access to EU markets for beef and other agricultural products.
She also says the proposals put forward on export subsidies are not balanced and she demanded genuinely parallel commitments by all parties to the final agreement
Ms Coughlan insists that agriculture must not be sacrificed in the effort to get a WTO deal now.
Ms Coughlan has arranged a meeting with her French counterpart, Mr Michel Barnier on Wednesday to discuss the future approach to negotiations, which are expected to intensify over the next two months.
