In recent years, there has been considerable effort by the international federation to increase competitivity in the continent through special development actions.
I spoke last week on our pressing need for investment in education to create an infrastructure which will supply us with the raw materials of future competitivity.
The advantages of accession are: transparency in cross-border prices; an increase in competitivity for the benefit of the consumer; the abolition of transaction costs; and no risk in exchange.
It is certainly appropriate to increase competitivity at national level by means of cooperation models for developing rural areas as an economic factor in professional farming.
The real problem is that the bulk of individual firms are not taking full advantage of their price competitivity to increase export volumes.
Given the grass-based nature of our agriculture, the cuts in cereal prices would also affect our competitivity.
We agreed that funding should be available for diversification projects where improvements in competitivity would not be feasible or sustainable.
The exchange rate then reflected our declining competitivity.
