Release No. 0243.96

                                     Jim Petterson (202) 720-4623
                                     Maureen Quinn (202) 720-7115
Statement

             by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
           After Conclusion of Talks in Vienna, Austria
With Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture for the European Union
                           May 10, 1996

     "My meetings here in Austria with European agriculture officials,
agribusiness representatives and farmers have been extremely productive.
European Union (EU) Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler and I
discussed a number of issues of importance, perhaps none more so than the
current world supply situation for grains. I have made it clear that the
United States would not restrict exports.

     "In this context, we discussed preparations for the World Food Summit
that the Food and Agriculture Organization is sponsoring in November 1996 in
Rome. We agreed that the focus of the summit should be on the need to address
the chronic problems of long term malnutrition and hunger in the developing
world.

     "We also agreed that the ongoing work on veterinary equivalency issues
needed to be expedited, with a view to mutual recognition of our inspection
systems by the end of the year.  I stressed that overall progress in this area
depended on the satisfactory resolution of several immediate issues, including
technical regulations affecting United States pet food and pork exports to the
European Union.

     "With respect to the EU's hormone ban, I made it clear that unless the
EU could offer the prospect of progress toward re-opening the market to U.S.
beef, we would make our second and final request for a WTO dispute settlement
panel. Commissioner Fischler was unable to offer any hope that the ban could
be lifted, so this matter will be placed on the agenda of the WTO Dispute
Settlement Body's next meeting.

     "We agreed that a greater effort needed to be made to avoid potential
problems in agricultural biotechnology.  Therefore, we decided to expand
bilateral technical discussions on facilitating the review, approval, and
commercialization of products from agricultural biotechnology.  This
initiative will supplement the existing United States-European Union HighTech
Working Group on Biotechnology.

     "In addition, we agreed to hold consultations in the near future to
exchange data and views on the operation of the U.S.-EU agreement on canned
fruit and on EU exports of wheat gluten to the United States.  We had a
productive exchange of views on a number of other important topics,
principally the United States' Farm Bill, EU enlargement prospects, and reform
of the Common Agricultural Policy and the status of BSE situation in Europe.
I also once again expressed the United States' concern regarding the
continuing EU grain trade restrictions to the detriment of net-importing
countries.

     "These discussions are important to farmers and consumers on both sides
of the Atlantic and should be continued.  I therefore invited Commissioner
Franz Fischler to return to the United States later this year to renew our
dialogue and to receive a progress report on the issues we discussed
yesterday, May 9, 1996."

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