And before being appointed to Secretary of Commerce and Trade in California, Mr. Hatamiya served as the administrator of the USDA's Farm Foreign Ag Service with the USDA.

Lon, we miss you in that capacity, I might add, but welcome here this afternoon.

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: Sheldon, thank you very much. And as I sit here, I feel like I should be on the other side of this table.

(Laughter.)

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: And as Sheldon has said, as a former administrator of the Foreign Ag Service, I was deeply involved with trade negotiations with all of you. And I'm here now in a different capacity. And I wanted just to share a couple of general observations, if I could.

First of all, let me thank my colleague Bill Lyons, Secretary Lyons, and Director Sheldon Jones for hosting this event in California. And let me welcome my former colleagues to California, because it's really good to see you here and I think it's an indication of the importance of California.

Let me begin by saying that also in my role as Trade and Commerce Secretary, my responsibility has broadened beyond just agriculture, and so I'm speaking on behalf of all of California industry and business. And I just had the opportunity just last week to testify before the USTR hearing in Los Angeles to talk about general trade policy considerations for the State of California.

And as Trade and Commerce Secretary, I think it's also important to note that I have the responsibility as the lead agency for economic development. I'm very pleased you're here today, because Governor Davis just signed into law a new budget that invests in our infrastructure and our education and our economic development for the 21st Century.

And why is that so important to why you're here today, it's because world markets are extremely important to California. And again, let me begin by saying, for the State of California further progress to lower tariffs, reduce barriers and strengthen trade adherence mechanisms in areas of services, intellectual property rights, entertainment, and commerce and especially agriculture will markedly increase our global competitiveness.

Now, why did I mention those four key areas? Those are four areas that I know that you, as negotiators, will be dealing with at the WTO and those are of primary importance to California. And I wanted to highlight why California is so important in this next round of the WTO.

As we sit here, we're the 7th largest if not the 6th largest economy in the world. We're the largest and the most dependent state in the union on exports and the global marketplace. And that's why trade liberalization is so important to this state.

And I wanted to highlight that. I know you're here because of that reason, but I also wanted to let you know that the Trade Commerce Agency working in conjunction with the California Department of Food and Agriculture will be a resource to you as you head into this next round of negotiations.

California wants to be best represented. I think we can take a lead in providing that kind of information. I know the panel members that have been here already today have provided tremendous information for you to take back to Washington that you can take to Seattle later this year and then to use in Geneva as we move forward into this next round.

Let me also highlight the importance of agriculture in the State of California. I don't think I need to do that very well, because it's already been done quite well today. But in the area of agriculture, issues important to seasonal and perishable, or especially agricultural products, were not fully addressed during the last round of multilateral trade negotiations.

California desires that specific rules addressing this area, such as enforcement of scientifically based sanitary and phytosanitary issues, workable and timely safeguard mechanisms, rapid dispute settlement resolutions, open market access and elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, to be part of the future trade discussions.

And, I think, I, better than anybody else, understand the difficult task you have before you. That's probably one of the reasons why I accepted the offer from Governor Davis to return to California.

(Laughter.)

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: But I know that you have a difficult task ahead of you. You've got our full support to ensure that agriculture is at the front burner of these issues.

One last comment that I'd like to make is that agriculture not be traded off for other sectors. Agriculture is far too important to this state's economy, to this nation's economy and we want to ensure that trade liberalization continues and open markets are accessible for those producers in the State of California.

Thank you very much for giving me a brief opportunity to discuss these issues with you today. And it's good to see all of you from Washington and from California and Arizona.

(Laughter.)

CO-MODERATOR JONES: Thank you, Lon. We appreciate your comments. We're glad you could join us today.

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: Good. You don't have any questions for me, do you?

AMBASSADOR BAAS: Why didn't you fix the problem before you left, Lon?

(Laughter.)

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: That's a good question, Mark.

(Laughter.)

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: I left it in good hands in Washington, so we'll work with you, again, as I mentioned in conjunction with Bill and others here in California.

Thank you very much.

CO-MODERATOR LYONS: Maybe, just for record, for the rest of the panel, Lon and I have shared an excellent relationship and our two agencies have worked together on trade issues and we look forward to working in the future on those trade issues.

Thank you.

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: Let me just add that it is a benefit in California that there are two members of the Governor's Cabinet that understand agricultural issues. And I think that bodes well hopefully for our future trade opportunities into the 21st Century.

USDA DEPUTY SECRETARY ROMINGER: Lon, we miss you in Washington D.C., but we're happy to work with you in your new capacity.

CA TRADE AND COMMERCE SECRETARY HATAMIYA: Thank you.

CO-MODERATOR JONES: Thank you, Lon. We appreciate it.

Okay, we'll be taking a ten-minute break before our next panel. If we can have everyone back here at about 25 till 3:00, 2:35.

Thank you.

(Thereupon a brief recess was taken.)