Australian trade minister Simon Crean believes the end of the 16-year ‘banana wars' dispute has given trade liberalisation efforts a much-needed shot in the arm, and could boost his country's exports of tropical fruit, the Australian Financial Review reported.
A deal was finalised in Brussels last week to cut heavy European Union tariffs on Latin American banana exports. The same tariffs had not been imposed on bananas from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Australia has little in the way of banana exports, but Mr Crean said a related agreement to introduce tariff cuts on the importation of tropical products such as macadamia nuts, citrus fruits, avocados and canola oil could be extended to Australian producers after the completion of the Doha round of world trade talks.
Latin American banana producers lodged a complaint over the tariffs in the World Trade Organisation in 1993 and had to wait 16 years for a resolution. ‘Banana wars', as the issue became known, was the longest running dispute in WTO history.
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