Johanns Promotes Ag at WTO

December 22, 2005 -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns returned to Washington on Monday following travel to attend the 6th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial in Hong Kong. In addition to participating in the WTO Ministerial, Johanns met with several important U.S. trading partners to advance agriculture trade.

"Our working relationship with many countries was advanced this week," said Johanns. "I had the opportunity to meet with many of my counterparts during the WTO ministerial meetings on a bilateral basis to advance our mutual trade interests."

Johanns held seven bilateral meetings throughout the week with South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany, Canada and Mexico.

"I'm very pleased that we successfully advanced our working relationship with China," said Johanns. "China is a growing market for U.S. agricultural products, accounting for more than $6 billion of our export sales. The agreement I signed this week will create a new working group to address sanitary and phytosanitary issues, resolving potential barriers to increased trade."