Weekly Report - 10 January 2006

MEXICO-US | Quest for deal on farm products. In March, economy minister Sergio Alejandro Garcí­a de Alba and agriculture minister Francisco Mayorga will be travelling to the US to discuss with their opposite numbers the possibility of an extra-Nafta arrangement on the most sensitive agricultural products: maize, beans and sugar. Mexico had wanted a review of Nafta's agricultural chapter before full liberalisation in 2008, but both of its partners rejected this. Garcí­a de Alba was confronted last week by delegates of the Confederación Nacional Campesina (CNC), which represents small farmers. They said that as a result of Nafta rice production was at risk of disappearing, and that last year about 70% of the crop was damaged by adverse weather conditions.