WTO agriculture negotiators met on 21 March to discuss the
way forward ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which is now scheduled
to take place the week of 13 June. The chair of the agriculture negotiating group,
Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta (Costa Rica), noted the impact of the conflict
in Ukraine on global food markets and the agriculture negotiation environment. She
asked members to prepare for intensive negotiations and use the remaining time wisely
so as to achieve pragmatic, meaningful outcomes at MC12.
The chair
reported on her recent consultations with WTO members. With the clarity provided
by the new dates for MC12, and bearing in mind the continuation of the COVID-19
pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, she asked members to reassess the format and
substance of the negotiations in preparation for the work ahead.
“Preserving
a well-functioning rules-based multilateral trading system and finding ways to make
a meaningful contribution to agriculture and food security is more important than
ever,” said the chair.
Members
reaffirmed their commitment to multilateral agricultural trade reform and the need
to make the system function.
Several
members highlighted the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the negotiation process
as well as the resulting threats to food security. Some members also highlighted
the importance of transparency, called for food markets to be kept open, and urged
members to refrain from imposing export restrictions.
Delegations
acknowledged the unprecedented challenges to global food security and stressed the
need to deliver a comprehensive outcome on agriculture at MC12 that would place
food security at the forefront. Many reiterated their clear support for a multilateral
decision as soon as possible to waive food purchases by the World Food Programme (WFP) from any export restriction.
Domestic
support to the farm sector remains a high priority for the membership, and many
trade officials renewed calls for addressing trade-distorting domestic support.
A few members also assigned priority to making progress in market access, and the
Cotton-4 asked for a more ambitious outcome on cotton.
Many
members supported pursuing talks on the basis of the chair's draft negotiation text
from November 2021 (TN/AG/50). In their view, this text is not perfect but offers
a balanced and realistic starting point which reflects the efforts and hard work
undertaken to date. Meanwhile, other members continued to ask the chair to revise
the text to take on board the proposals from the G33 group of developing members
and the African Group.
With
regard to the meeting format, most members welcomed the chair's suggestion that
members conduct meetings in various configurations tailored to their needs on different
topics. They also agreed that technical work will continue when necessary.
WTO members
also continued talks aimed at agreeing a “permanent solution” to the problems some
developing countries say they face under WTO rules when buying food at administered
prices as part of their public stockholding programmes
for food security purposes (PSH). At the dedicated session on this topic, Canada
introduced a joint
submission with Australia, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the United States
and Uruguay (JOB/AG/210/Rev.1). The submission compiles all available information
on members' public stockpiling programmes since 2001.
The co-sponsors
said the submission aims to facilitate an evidence-based and informed negotiation.
The paper pointed to the lack of transparency and the need to improve notifications,
they said. The co-sponsors also suggested re-using the questionnaire used before
the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference so that members can acquire critical information
on PSH programmes such as product coverage and procurement
prices.
Some
food-importing developing members took the floor to share specific food security
concerns related to recent price spikes and supply chain disruptions. They reminded
members of the negotiating mandate for PSH and called for a permanent solution at
MC12.
PSH proponents
(the G33, the African Group and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group) said they
invited non-proponents for bilateral consultations starting from 1 March to hear
their concerns. Meanwhile, non-proponents asked the G33 and the African Group to
share their forthcoming new proposal (merging the existing proposals from the two
groups) in a timely fashion when this becomes available.
Negotiations
continued on a proposed new “special safeguard mechanism” that would allow developing
countries to raise tariffs temporarily in the event of a sudden surge in import
volumes or a price depression. At the dedicated
session on this topic, some proponents suggested including an interim SSM in the
chair's draft negotiation text.
Agricultural
exporting members again asserted the linkage between SSM and market access and questioned
the feasibility of any substantive outcome on SSM, even on an interim basis, in
the absence of parallel progress on market access.
The chair
indicated her intention to continue the consultations and encouraged more technical
discussions to break the deadlock.
The chair
said she will prepare a process for the coming weeks based on the views of members.
Extensive consultations on different topics in conjunction with necessary technical
work are foreseen. Developing countries' urgent needs for food security will be
well attended to in the future negotiation plan, she said, noting members' support
for an event on the theme of food security tentatively scheduled for the end of
April.
The chair
urged members to submit new proposals as soon as possible to shape the negotiations
and make good use of the little time remaining before MC12.