EU farm ministers, meeting for the first time since enlargement, gathered in Killarney, Co Kerry, last night for two days of informal discussions on how to proceed in the World Trade Talks.
The 25 ministers will be joined by farm ministers from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, countries which hope to join the EU as soon as possible.
A document circulated by the Irish presidency said the talks will centre on how to improve communications to non-EU countries to achieve a better understanding of the Common Agricultural Policy reforms and how this relates to world trade.
The document stated that there needed to be a better realisation of the potential trade benefits available to developing countries.
The ministers will be asked what they can do to improve communications with non-EU states and if there is a need for a deliberate strategy to improve communications.
They will also consider the problems of communicating the CAP reforms to farmers and to non-farmers in the EU itself.
The ministers will be joined by the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Franz Fischler, the architect of the most radical reform of the CAP since its foundation.
Dr Fischler has always claimed that the reform of the CAP, which broke the link between farm production and direct payments to farmers, had nothing to do with the World Trade negotiations, which are currently stalled.
Later today the ministers and Dr Fischler will visit Glengarriff and Garnish Island and will also visit farms in south Kerry.
A formal session for the EU farm ministers takes place in Hotel Europe tomorrow morning, followed by a press conference hosted by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh.