British Foreign Secretary Sir GeoffreyHowe 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.
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