20 April 2009
DAFF09/107T

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, Tony Burke
Response at the ‘Working session for the International Organizations’, at the meeting of the Agriculture Ministers of the G8+G5 countries plus Egypt, Argentina, Australia, Czech Presidency and EU Commission

E&OE

Thank you, your Excellency. May I first of all thank you for your inclusive style of chairmanship during this meeting and also for the warm hospitality and extraordinary surroundings where we have been able to conduct this meeting.

Around this table we are at the centre of the biggest issues facing the globe: climate change, the food crisis and the global recession.

And it is of great value to have had this opportunity to get up and to have worked through those issues. Australia has been deeply honoured to have been included in this process.

For the challenges that we now deal with, traditionally we have always known that agriculture intercepts with the future of rural communities and with an obligation to continue to push the boundaries of research and development.

I believe from the summary that you have given, your Excellency, there is no doubt that we are also at the centre of global discussions on trade, on aid and on climate change.

The climate change work that we have to deal with goes back to adaptation, to mitigation and also to the accounting processes which will be dealt with later this year.

The challenge of getting this right is not easy and I suspect that the challenge of getting this right demands that we all go beyond where our portfolios have traditionally gone.

The stakes of getting it wrong are devastating for the globe. The potential of getting it right allows today’s and yesterday’s meetings  to provide that platform, or launching pad, to lead for the long-term; farmers having a livelihood, rural communities having a future and families, including the most needy families in the world, for the long-term being guaranteed a meal. It’s a privilege to be associated with this.

ENDS