"It was a very very good meeting," Canadian Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief told reporters outside parliament. "There was no great discussion yesterday on any specific issue, (but) it was clearly stated that there will be an aim towards a package of agreements." The technical level talks began Thursday in Montreal after Canada agreed to suspend its formal complaint about a US border blockade of Canadian farm products. Canada had filed complaints against the United States under both the World Trade Organisation and the North American Free Trade Agreement after North Dakota last month began restricting Canadian imports. Jay Ziegler, a spokesman for the US trade representative's office, said US officials came out of the meeting optimistic about striking a deal.

He said the participants agreed to a"work plan" for addressing cross border agricultural trade issues "on a priority basis over the next few weeks." Ziegler said both sides "exchanged views on the full range of commodity trade issues," as well as differences in regulatory and import testing requirements that many US farmers feel gives Canadian producers an unfair trade advantage. US producers complain that Canada maintains an extensive system of hurdles to prevent wheat from moving north, while Canadian farmers ship their products south with ease. Vanclief, while welcoming the start of talks, gave no indication that Canada was willing to soften its position. "Are our requirements stiffer than others? I don't think I can make that comparison other than in making a very clear statement that our requirements are fully sufficient to meet the health and safety requirements of Canadians." He said Canada will not consider a cap on any imports to the United States, nor will he allow the role of the Canadian Wheat Board to even be discussed at thetalks.

"No, the Canadian Wheat Board is evolving on its own and these talks have nothing to do with making any changes to the Canadian Wheat Board... (and) we've told them before that we're not about to talk about caps on exports to the United States, on anything," Vanclief said. US producers are bitterly opposed to the extensive control that the Canadian Wheat Board has over the Canadian food market, railcar allocations and the licensing of grain handling facilities and varieties. Vanclief said none of the many trade agreements pending with the United States would be completed until the farm dispute was resolved and reiterated that Canada would walk away from the talks if any US border blockades resumed.

He also dismissed complaints filed last week by US cattle producers that Canadian cattle is being dumped in the United States. "There's nothing to substantiate their claim. That's been looked at before. If (the US authorities decide to investigate), our industry is confident and we're confident thatwe will be able to clearly and easily demonstrate that there is no validity in their claims," Vanclief said. USTR's Ziegler said talks between the two sides will continue periodically over the next few weeks.