SECRETARY VENEMAN: “Well good morning and thank you Dave for that very kind introduction. It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you to Washington DC. We are truly honored to have the United States host this group. It is my understanding that this is the first time this meeting has been held here in 29 years. And I can certainly assure you that you are in very good hands with Dave Frederickson, who is the President of the National Farmers Union here in the United States.

   “I understand you also got a chance to see our Department yesterday. We were pleased you that were able to come there and Dave hosted you for the event last evening. I’d also like to acknowledge our Under Secretary who is here, J.B. Penn who is our Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, and I am very pleased to be here and to see David King once again. We have had the opportunity to meet on several occasions over the past many years that we have both been involved in agriculture. And it is a great delight for me to see my good friend Catherine Bertini. She and I worked together at USDA many years ago and then she became the head of the World Food Program.

   “This is a critical time for global agriculture and indeed a challenging time for all of its leaders. Many issues have emerged before us and how they are handled will set the course for agriculture across the globe for the decades to come.

   “We are very pleased to have an opportunity to critically examine some of these issues in forums such as these and again, are so pleased that we’re able to host you in the United States this year.

   “I personally appreciate the opportunity to address so many influential farm leaders from around the world. It is indeed a rare opportunity.

   “And I appreciate that we have farm leaders here today from over 70 countries, leaders who represent a wide diversity of conditions both large and small countries, developed and developing countries and agriculture of widely different types, productivity, scale and structure. All of us face problems and challenges that are unique to our specific circumstances. But, there also are some overarching issues and challenges that confront us all collectively and that must be addressed by the global agriculture community as a whole.

   “This morning I wanted to discuss a few of these more common challenges.

   “One of the most intractable challenges that global society has ever faced is assuring that all people around the world have enough to eat , enough to enable them to function to their full potential as human beings.

   “Despite the phenomenal scientific advances made during the 20th Century, and the tremendous agricultural productivity advances, our ability to produce more and more food on a fixed area of land and the fact that price-depressing food surpluses, not shortages, characterized most of the last half of the last century, the sad truth is that a growing number of the world’s people continue to be afflicted with chronic hunger and malnutrition.

   “The world’s governmental agricultural leaders convened in Rome in 1996 at the World Food Summit. The assessment at the time said that 800 million of the world’s 5.8 billion people were chronically hungry or malnourished. Those leaders pledged to aggressively address the issue. And they pledged to reduce by half the number by the year 2015.

   “Many of those leaders again assembled in Rome in 2002 at the World Food Summit: five years later for a stocktaking. I was there, I’m sure some of you were as well. What we found is that our efforts were not and are not nearly enough. That the target population had grown to 842 million and at the ongoing rate, the goal would not be met in 2015 but would rather take until the year 2060, 45 years behind schedule. Clearly, something different and, something more was required.

   “Of all the various ways to accelerate progress, one was found to be the most promising. That is, simply to increase the productivity of agriculture in those areas of the world where hunger and malnutrition are most concentrated, where agriculture already is the principal, and in many cases, the only economic activity.

   “The global leaders in 2002 reaffirmed their pledge to achieve the goal set in 1996 and to focus on increasing agricultural productivity and science and technology were seen as having a paramount role in achieving this. The FAO and others have now undertaken new efforts to raise the level of productivity in many developing parts of the world.

   “For our efforts, we have focused on finding ways to develop and disseminate appropriate technology to the parts of the developing world where productivity is most lagging. The U.S. Government--USDA, the Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the U. S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State-- organized, and I had the honor to host, a ministerial conference on science and technology in agriculture. It was held in California last June. It proved to be the largest such conference ever held attended by over 1,000 people including 119 people at Ministerial level—Ministers of Agriculture, of Science and Technology, of Health, Environment, Trade and Commerce—and all of these people represented 120 countries in total.

     “The interest and enthusiasm were enormous. The delegates were engaged, and a number of interesting ideas and next steps emerged. The participants identified priorities for using science and technology to boost agricultural productivity in an environmentally sustainable way:

   “Making applied research and technology accessible to farmers.

   “Revitalizing local and national research capacities and promoting public-private partnerships.

   “Facilitating the benefits of technology through supportive policies and regulations.

   “And paying special attention to water quality and availability.

   “And, many of the delegates wanted to extend and expand the discussions with particular emphasis on their own parts of the world. The participants from Costa Rica immediately offered to organize a Central American conference along with the International Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture or IICA as it is commonly referred to. USDA joined that effort and a very successful ten-country conference resulted there just last month.

   “A second regional science and technology conference will be held this month in Burkina Faso for the West African region. A focus there will be on science and technology solutions specific to the region, especially water-related issues.

   “In addition to these two significant conferences, we have initiated several other follow-up activities to the Sacramento conference. A notable one was launching an international training program for young scientists from the developing world. Just in March, we launched the Norman E. Borlaug Science Fellows Program that will eventually bring some 100 scientists to the United States each year for additional training.

   “While all of these efforts will prove helpful, even more must be done in the near future if we are to meet the goal of improving food security for a large segment of the growing global population.

   “Now, this brings me to what I find to be one of the most challenging paradoxes of the 21st century. At the very same time that we are redoubling our efforts to battle hunger and malnutrition, we are faced with an unprecedented global obesity epidemic. The epidemic now is recognized by the various international organizations such as the UN World Health Organization and is beginning to be addressed by them and by many national governments.

   “Here in the United States, overweight and obesity are reaching crisis proportions. Consider this:

   “--65 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Of that total, 31 percent are obese, twice the amount in 1980, and 34 percent are overweight.

   “--The number of severely obese has grown three-fold just since 1986.

   “--Some 400,000 Americans die yearly from causes attributable to obesity, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and other illnesses. Obesity is expected to pass smoking next year as the leading preventable cause of death among Americans.

   “The costs to society are enormous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that obesity cost our economy some $117 billion in 2002 and it undoubtedly far more today.

   “This is a highly complex problem. It results from many factors, and there are many components to addressing it effectively. Information and education are two of the most critical factors.

   “But, this is not just a problem for the United States nor just for the rest of the highly affluent developed world. This is clearly illustrated by the fact that there are more obese school children in the world today than those who are malnourished. Thus, it is a global problem and one confronting all the agricultural leaders of the world.

   “And, the critical challenge to all of us is how to marshal and deploy our resources most effectively to address both the issue of not enough food for many while also educating many others about improved diets and healthier lifestyles.

   “Another of the more urgent challenges that is common to all of us today is global trade liberalization.

   “All but perhaps a small few of us here today would not only agree but vigorously argue that trade liberalization in food and agricultural products is the way to spur much-needed growth and economic development in most of the world.

   “We now have a precious opportunity before us at this very moment but we face a very small and quickly closing window of opportunity. The WTO Doha Development Agenda is at a very crucial stage. We missed an opportunity to advance the negotiations in Cancun last September. But, thanks to the efforts of a few leaders including our Trade Ambassador, Robert B. Zoellick, EU Commissioner Pascal Lamy, Brazil’s Ceasar Amorin, South Africa’s Alec Irwin, among several others, we now have a reprieve. There is an opportunity to complete this all-important framework for agriculture by July or August.

   “We can see that framework is becoming increasingly clear for some parts of the negotiating structure.

   “For export competition, we can see how export subsidies, the most egregious of the trade distorting measures, would be addressed, along with STEs and export credits.

   “For domestic supports, we can see how the developed countries will respond in exchange for meaningful market access measures.

   “For market access, the pillar that has proved elusive so far, we are encouraged that the G-20 and the Cairns Group are very earnestly engaged in attempting to advance meaningful proposals that will allow the negotiations to proceed.

   “Everyone fully recognizes after Cancun just how fragile the Doha negotiations are. We have before us in the next few days the last opportunity for perhaps many years to come to a position where we can conclude a new round of global trade talks. If these fail, it will be years, if not a generation, before new leaders emerge with enough resolve and political capital to launch another round of global talks.

   “But, a failed round will also mean another long period of stalled economic development by those who need it most and a widening disparity between the economic haves and have-nots.

   “Thus, it is incumbent on all of us assembled here today—the global agricultural leadership—to redouble our efforts to see that these trade talks do indeed move forward, that the promise of expanded trade for improved living conditions is given a chance.

   “I will now turn to another challenge that confronts global agriculture today. And that is enhanced conservation of our natural resources, especially as related to farming and food production.

   “It is well known that much of the world’s arable land area already is in cultivation for food production. With more than 6 billion people to feed around the world now, and the number is growing rapidly over the years, the pressure on the natural resource base is obvious. The concern, or course, is that to feed the growing population, we expand the cultivated area to the more fragile areas, that we move onto the savannahs, the rainforests, that we threaten the most ecologically precious areas and the world’s biodiversity.

   “But, there is an alternative, and as I said at the beginning of my remarks, and that is improving the productivity on the land that is already under cultivation. And, here again, science and technology are crucial. And, that includes biotechnology. I was heartened to see the recent affirmation from FAO, a voice widely listened to in the developing world, that agricultural biotechnology does indeed have a critical role in improving food security for developing countries.

   “And, biotechnology can have a big role in conserving and improving the natural resources as we already are seeing. Reduced pesticides applications now possible with some biotech varieties mean cleaner water and improved wildlife habitat, making farming far more environmentally friendly with enormous implications for the global resource base.

   “We can see a way clear here. We can protect and preserve the world’s natural resources. We can protect the biodiversity with its still-unknown manifold benefits. But, we must immediately and effectively harness the science and technology now available to us. That is the challenge for all of us that are assembled here today.

   “There are several more broad challenges common to all of us that I could address here today. But, there simply is not the time.

   “There is one final issue, also of paramount importance, that I would like to touch upon. .

   “It is the challenge of developing and implementing science-based sanitary and phytosanitary regulatory systems. With globalization, such systems are now imperative to protect public health, indigenous plant and animal agriculture, and enabling expanded trade in food and agricultural products.

   “This is a new challenge, a product of our times. It is the result of a smaller and smaller world, with increased travel and commerce, from even the remotest places and with much greater frequency.

   “Increasing SPS regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, are increasingly becoming the new trade impediments. We have quickly come to recognize that national governments employ widely disparate sets of measures in attempts to protect, first and foremost, public health and then their animal and plant agriculture sectors.

   “And it oftentimes has become a serious point of contention. It has led to concern that these regulations can be protectionist just as were tariffs and quotas when they are based on uninformed and unsound scientific principles.

   “The great challenge before all of us today is to ensure that sanitary and phytosanitary regulations in our countries reflect the most advanced and accepted principles of the international scientific community.

   “Events and development since the mid-1990s have thrust some previously little-known international institutions into a global spotlight. Today, these international standard-setting bodies are assuming a more important role than ever—the CODEX, the International Plant Protection Convention and the OIE.

   “International rules and norms to guide and govern our growing commerce today are more vital than ever before. Thus, we must look to these bodies for that analytical, objective leadership. And, all of us, all of our countries, must be more supportive and assume a stronger role in these organizations in the future.

   “My plea to you today—the global agricultural leaders—is to encourage that your countries fully participate in those organizations and that sound science becomes the basis for international regulations and therefore, commerce.

   “There are a host of other issues that we could discuss today but time limits that opportunity, whether it’s water quality and availability, the increasingly consumer-driven food system, or other new technologies such as Geographic Information Systems.

   “Again, I extend a very, very warm welcome to all of you visiting the United States. We are indeed pleased to have you at this time, early in the new century, when we clearly are at a very important point in determining the future direction for global agriculture.

   “Thank you all very much.”

   (Applause.)

   ANNOUNCER: “Thank you so much, Madam Secretary, for those wonderful comments. Secretary Veneman has agreed to take some questions, and I'm wondering if maybe you'd raise your hand. Essa? This is Mr. Harmaluk from Finland.”

   QUESTION: “Thank you very much for a very interesting presentation, Secretary. I have a very simple and concrete question. You didn't refer to the future directions of national agricultural policies, and so we have noticed that the U.S. agricultural budget has during the last few years grown quite fast. What will be the future direction of that budget, and do you have any plans to decouple agricultural support from production like Europe recently did? Thank you.”

   SEC. VENEMAN: “Well, thank you very much for that question. I think that it is important to recognize that the Farm Bill that was passed by our Congress was estimated to cost substantially more money than it is currently costing the U.S. government, and that is because we are really at an unprecedented time in terms of the strength of global agricultural prices right now.

   “And because the way the Farm Bill, the last Farm Bill was designed, it actually is a safety net in periods where the prices are low. And so the actual expenditures of the Farm Bill have been far less.

   “As you know, the Farm Bill has a limited amount of time. The United States has proposed that we will be willing to substantially reduce our subsidy programs if others do the same, and we made a very aggressive proposal to that effect in July of 2002 in the WTO, and we stand ready to have serious negotiations about those issues in the WTO.”

   ANNOUNCER: “Other questions? Mr. Pression (sp) from Canada”

   QUESTION: “Thank you very much, President. And thank you very much, Secretary Veneman.

   “I have somewhat of a two-part question. You did mention Cancun as a failure, and so it's in the context of the Derbez (text, in what areas is the U.S. willing to make compromises? But I also have to say that I am somewhat puzzled because you know that we essentially have a free trade agreement in agriculture between Canada and the U.S. And yet we continuously have problems with challenges on wheat into the U.S. We have challenges with hogs and pork into the U.S. We still haven't managed to get the border open on BSE. And the country-of-origin labeling is still lurking in the wings.

   “My second question is, is this simply a sign of a protectionism, which eventually will render trade agreements merely symbolical?”

   SEC. VENEMAN: “Well, I think one of the things that's very important to recognize is, in terms of the U.S-Canada relationship that two of our largest food and agriculture trading partners today are our NAFTA partners, and that is Canada and Mexico.

   “Since the implementation of first U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement and then the NAFTA, we've seen substantial trade among our three countries. And I think that is a testament to the fact that the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement and the NAFTA are working.

   “Now I separate those because as you may or may not know there is not a NAFTA agreement in agriculture because we don't have, because the U.S. and Canada have one agreement, the U.S. and Mexico have another agreement, and then Canada and Mexico have another agreement.

   “There are always challenges when you have a large amount of trade going back and forth between countries. The more trade you have it seems the more difficulties that you have. And there have been issues such as BSE. We worked to try to reopen that border quickly for the lowest risk products, and we did that in August of last year.

   “We have, as you know, the country-of-origin labeling that you mentioned is a product of what the Congress put in the Farm Bill. It is not something that the Administration supported. And there is provision in the Appropriations Bill that would limit that.

   “Again, other trade problems do continue to happen between our two countries, but I think the important thing is to look at the strength of the trading relationship that we have between our two countries and the increased volume that we've had between our two countries and with Mexico since we've had these trade agreements. It's a very, very important success story.”

   ANNOUNCER: “Just conferring. Our information was Secretary Veneman has a meeting and she's past the 10:00 that's there. I know there are a lot of questions people would like to ask, but in respect for people's time period and commitment I would like to take the opportunity to thank Secretary Veneman [inaudible] and thank you very much for these remarks.”

   (Applause)