It is no secret that agriculture is among the sectors where the pace of liberalisation has been slowest, in spite of the large potential gains from phasing out agricultural subsidies and the rich countries accepting that much food production is relocated to less affluent countries. There are many reasons for this sluggishness – but they are outside the scope of this speech.
I am pleased to note that Danish agriculture supports a controlled phasing-out of agricultural subsidies. As we know, agriculture is one of the major hurdles to be overcome in the current Doha negotiations. To me there is no doubt that liberalisation will come some day. It is simply a question of when.