Bordeaux, France, June 23: French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin yesterday kicked off the world's biggest wine fair in this southwest city, expected to be attended by more than 50,000 professionals from 140 countries. The biennial trade fair, first held in 1981, this year has 2,500 exhibitors from 44 wine-producing nations touting wine and spirits in a difficult market dogged by over-production, competition between new and old world wines and the drop in the dollar. Raffarin hailed the economic power of the world spirits market and said that "an agreement has to be found on a good equilibrium between tradition and modernity" in the wine market. He called on old world wine producers, like France, Spain and Italy, to adopt techniques from the new world – in particular the United States, Australia and Chile – including modern marketing and merchandising methods and lower prices. Bureau Report