At the 100th session of the Committee on Agriculture on 15-16
March, members examined multiple farm trade policies, updated information on the
impact of COVID-19 on agri-food trade and adopted the
report of the triennial review of the Nairobi Decision on export competition. While
continuing to follow up on other Ministerial Decisions’ implementation matters,
members suspended discussions on the Bali tariff rate quota (TRQ) underfill mechanism with a view to reaching consensus before
the deadline of 31 March.
A special
event was held on 17 March to mark the milestone moment of the Committee's 100th
session.
In continuation
of the discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on agriculture, members reviewed
the update provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO, G/AG/GEN/199/Rev.1 ), the
International Grains Council (IGC, G/AG/GEN/197), the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD, G/AG/GEN/194) and
the World Food Programme (WFP, G/AG/GEN/195).
Some
members shared their concerns that on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation
in the Black Sea basin could further disrupt supply chains, inflate food prices,
and exacerbate global hunger and food insecurity, dealing a significant blow to
the NFIDCs. Acknowledging a detailed report (G/AG/GEN/198 and
Corr.1) by
the FAO on the food security challenges faced by least-developed countries and NFIDCs,
they echoed the call by the FAO to shore up support for the G7 Agriculture Ministers'
statement on 11 March, which urged all countries to refrain from any export-restrictive
measures and to keep agriculture markets open.
One NFIDC
aired deep concerns over food price hikes and indicated the need for more food aid.
It asked members to include beneficiaries' information in their food aid notifications.
The chair
encouraged members to be transparent about their COVID-19 agricultural measures
and made reference to the relevant work at the WTO Secretariat, including a dedicated page on the
WTO website. All ad hoc reports on members' COVID-19 measures have been compiled
in G/AG/W/209/Rev.1.
Many
members took the floor to express their strong opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian delegate responded by saying that the WTO was not the proper venue for
a discussion of this nature.
23 new
issues were raised as members dig deeper into each other's farm policies in relation
to the three pillars of agriculture trade: market access, domestic support and export
competition. Several members' export-restrictive measures, India's multiple farm
policies, the United Kingdom’s forest risk commodities provisions and various farm
support measures by Canada, the Russian Federation and the United States were put
in the spotlight.
For the
21 recurring issues, members continued to push for answers, notably concerning Canada's
dairy policies, the European Union's environmental and deforestation policies, India's
pulse policies and various stockpiling programmes, as
well as the United States' farm support in response to the pandemic.
Members
also availed the opportunity to seek clarities on individual notifications regarding
tariff quota administration, special agricultural safeguards, domestic support,
export subsidy, export restrictions and donor members’ food aid policies. Most questions
were raised on domestic support, with 15 members quizzed on their domestic support
notifications to the WTO. All questions submitted for the meeting are available
in G/AG/W/217 and Corr.1. All
questions and replies received are available on the WTO's Agriculture Information Management System (AG IMS).
Members
adopted the draft report (G/AG/33) of
the second triennial review of the Nairobi Export Competition
Decision, which commits WTO members to eliminate farm subsidies contingent
on export. This decision was described by the WTO Director-General at the time as
the most significant outcome on agriculture since the WTO was established in 1995.
The triennial
review report summarized members' discussions since the last triennial review, and
provided recommendations to encourage full engagement in the Export Competition
Questionnaire (ECQ) and to streamline and enhance transparency on this.
To brace
for the annual dedicated discussion on export competition to monitor the implementation
of the Nairobi Decision in June, the chair urged members to submit their replies
to the ECQ before 31 March, for which all members, developing and developed, have
been required to participate since 2021, following the end of the grace period for
developing members. The new ECQ online submission tool has made good progress and
the Secretariat will invite members to test the prototype in the coming weeks, the
chair said.
Several
members answered questions at the meeting regarding their policies on export competition.
These questions may be consulted in G/AG/W/217. All
questions and replies received are available in the WTO's Agriculture Information Management System (AG IMS).
With
regard to members' compliance of incorporating the elimination of export subsidies
into their WTO schedules of commitments, Brazil certified its revised draft schedule
on 28 January 2022 (WT/LET/1560). Among
the 16 members with export subsidy reduction commitments, 13 have seen their revised
schedules certified (i.e. accepted by all WTO members) while two members — Canada
and the European Union — await certification of their draft schedules circulated
in 2017. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has not yet circulated its revised
export subsidy schedule.
Members
also conducted the annual consultation with respect to their participation in the
normal growth of world trade on agricultural products within the framework of commitments
on export subsidies. A background document G/AG/W/32/Rev.20 was
prepared by the Secretariat to facilitate the discussion.
The Bali tariff rate quota
(TRQ) Decision was discussed in the informal session on 15 March.
Due to the lingering concerns from one member over the allegedly missing special
and differential treatment element in the draft decision, the chair announced the
suspension of the agenda item for a few days. He plans to organize more consultations
in the coming days, paying a last-ditch effort to resolve the differences before
the deadline of 31 March.
The unfinished
business on the matter was pertaining to the future operation of paragraph 4 of
the underfill mechanism, for which there was no agreement
among members during the 2017-19 review of the implementation of the Bali TRQ decision.
As per the agreed recommendations of the review approved by the General
Council in 2019, the deadline to reach an agreement on this outstanding
issue is the end of 2021, which then further extended to 31 March 2022.
The chair
highlighted two elements regarding transparency in the Committee: (i) timeliness and completeness of notifications submitted by
members; and (ii) the importance of timely and complete responses to questions raised
in the review process. The chair encouraged members to redouble efforts to improve
their compliance with notification obligations. G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.44, and
G/AG/W/204/Rev.5 reflects,
respectively, the current status of members' compliance with notification obligations
and the list of outstanding responses to questions raised at the Committee during
2013-2021.
Pursuant
to the Committee's mandates to monitor annually the follow-up to the Marrakesh Ministerial
Decision on net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs), members conducted
the monitor exercise based on the Secretariat's background document G/AG/W/42/Rev.22, a collection
of information on donor members' contributions in support of NFIDCs.
Members
also reviewed the list of NIFDCs. No further changes were made to the list in document
G/AG/5/Rev.11.
A special event to mark
the 100th session of the Committee on Agriculture was held on 17 March. In her opening
remarks, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
hailed the Committee's achievements over the past 27 years and highlighted its important
role in overseeing implementation of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. Old and new
chairs, delegates and representatives of other international organizations participated
in the meeting.