Agriculture Discussions at WTO to Enter New Phase this Month
Committee on Agriculture
Committee on Agriculture in special session
Cotton
Sanitary and Phytosanitary
(SPS) Measures Committee
Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF)
A new phase of discussions on agriculture will begin at the
WTO this month. WTO members will discuss, in the Committee on Agriculture, the impact
of COVID-19 on the agricultural sector and will exchange information on their agricultural
policies. Meeting in special session, they will seek to advance negotiations on
agriculture, with a view to achieving a successful outcome by the 12th Ministerial
Conference scheduled for 2021. Meetings will also take place on cotton and in the
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee and the
Standards and Trade Development Facility.
“The WTO Secretariat is committed to assisting members with
the implementation of the Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Measures. It is also dedicated to providing
essential support for the agriculture negotiations and assisting developing countries
meet the market access requirements of trading partners," said Deputy Director-General
Alan Wolff, who noted “the vital importance of the food and agriculture sector to
WTO members, particularly at a time when the world is faced by both health and economic
crises.”
Committee on Agriculture
The new chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Ms Maria Escandor (the Philippines),
will facilitate the meetings scheduled for 21-23 September and 30 November to 1
December. The September meeting will include the regular exchange of information
on members' agricultural policies, a discussion to follow up on the Nairobi
Decision on Export Competition and
a review of the list of net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs). It will also discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
on the agriculture sector and the policies implemented by members in response to
the crisis. Besides its usual policy review process, the November meeting will follow
up on the NFIDC
decision and will consider the path ahead
for agricultural trade in view of the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Committee on Agriculture
in special session
At the meeting of the Committee on Agriculture in special
session on 25 September, the new chair Ambassador Gloria Abraham (Costa Rica) will
report back to members on her extensive consultations since the beginning of September
and will invite members to discuss how the intensive work undertaken with the previous
chair John Deep Ford may be taken forward. Members will have an opportunity to examine
the current state of play in the negotiations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
and to discuss the work plan in the run-up to the 12th Ministerial Conference.
Cotton
The first anniversary of World Cotton Day will take place
on 7 October. At the WTO Cotton Days of 12-13 November, members will review development
assistance projects, with a focus on the first outputs of the joint initiative between
the WTO, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the International
Trade Committee on enhancing the use of cotton by-products in least-developed countries. The meetings will also monitor
the trade-related aspects of cotton to inform the ongoing negotiations on cotton.
The WTO-UNCTAD-ITC joint initiative was launched in November
2018 to develop the economic potential
of cotton by-products in response to a request by the Cotton-4 countries — Benin,
Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali.
Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures Committee
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)
Measures Committee will meet informally on 16 September to prepare for the committee
meetings scheduled to take place on 2-6 November. WTO members will follow up on
the implementation of a new work programme which was agreed
by members in July. At its September meeting, members will discuss an SPS
Declaration for the 12th Ministerial Conference, the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the SPS Agreement
as well as any topic that members may wish to discuss in further detail in the 2021
SPS thematic sessions.
Standards and Trade Development
Facility (STDF)
On 23 September, a STDF webinar will allow developing countries, international organizations,
donors and industry associations to discuss the next steps to scale up the ePhyto solution
- an electronic phytosanitary certification project that
has helped developing countries to facilitate safe trade in plants and plant products
during the pandemic. On 13-15 October, the STDF Working Group will bring together the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the World
Health Organization, the WTO, the World Bank and other partners to share information
about SPS capacity development and to consider applications for new projects to
help disadvantaged groups in developing countries gain and maintain market access.