Briton, Albright Agree on Urgency of Banana Dispute

Britain and the United States agreed Saturday on the need for urgent talks between Washington and the European Union to resolve a trade dispute over bananas, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said.

Cook, speaking after a two-hour meeting with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at his country residence, said both sides felt a solution to the deepening disagreement over banana imports should be found as soon as possible.

The European Union is furious that the U.S. decided to impose import restrictions worth $520 million on a range of European goods just weeks before a World Trade Organization ruling on the EU’s revised banana policy.

In 1997, the WTO ruled that the EU’s original policy unfairly favored small Caribbean banana producers over others in Latin America, some of which are controlled by U.S. companies.

“We both agreed that what is needed is urgent talks. We cannot allow this dispute to damage relations between us. We both need an urgent resolution, and both agreed to seek one,” Cook told reporters after the talks.

“I will be reporting to my colleagues in the other European capitals to urge them to back early talks to find an early solution,” he said, adding that he had made clear once again how displeased Britain was with Washington’s actions.

“We can’t understand why the United States couldn’t wait another two weeks [for the WTO ruling], but under the present conditions we can’t wait another few weeks to resolve this problem,” he said.

Also Saturday, Prime Minister Tony Blair was expected to telephone President Clinton to discuss the dispute.

A British official said before the talks between Albright and Cook that it would be wrong to bill their hastily arranged meeting as crisis talks over the banana issue. Cook said the two had had “a full discussion” on the matter.

Cook and Albright also discussed the forthcoming second round of Kosovo peace talks between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, which is due to start March 15 in France.

“We both welcomed the progress on the Kosovoan side in their support for the peace accord. . . . We are both agreed on the same message to [the Serbian government in] Belgrade that it must come to the talks ready to agree,” Cook said.

Cook briefed Albright on a trip he made to Russia last week in a bid to persuade Moscow to contribute to a proposed international implementation force that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization says is crucial to enforce any Kosovo peace deal.