WTO Holds Meet to Prepare for Agri at Nur-Sultan Ministerial
At a meeting of the Agriculture Committee in Special Session
on 24-25 February, discussions focused on the elements and processes that are “oriented
towards achieving an outcome” by the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12), in
Nur-Sultan in June. “We need more engagement from delegations
to find more common ground, more common language, to start very soon shaping what
an outcome on agriculture might look like” said the chair, Ambassador John Deep
Ford.
At the
centre of the discussions was the chair's new report entitled
"Elements and processes for a possible outcome in agriculture at MC12"
(JOB/AG/180). The document was intended to serve as a basis for members to narrow
down the scope of negotiations and determine the contours of a draft text "which
would be adopted by members at MC12." Members also considered three new submissions.
The United
States submitted a paper entitled “Notification of select domestic support variables
in the WTO” (JOB/AG/181). The paper identifies several areas within the domestic
support pillar where members have been following different notification practices
and where agriculture committee discussions are driven by inquiries seeking to gain
further transparency. Members welcomed the US submission for its detailed information
and comprehensive analysis. The US said it would explore discussion of this matter
in the regular Agriculture Committee meeting. It reiterated the submission was meant
to support "a technical discussion" on transparency, not to reflect any
negotiating position.
The second
new submission entitled "Formula for reduction of trade-distorting support"
(JOB/AG/182) from the Russian Federation provides concrete examples for the reduction
of trade-distorting support by applying the formula proposed in its previous document
(JOB/AG/172.) Some members raised questions to seek further clarifications on some
of the technicalities of the paper. The Russian Federation said it had used a new
approach based on the actual economic performance of members in order to try to
avoid the failures encountered with old approaches.
The chair
invited members to build on the elements listed in his report, including:
·
a concrete goal for capping and reducing trade-distorting
domestic support;
·
key principles and possible ways to achieve that
goal;
·
the importance of harmonizing support levels and
reducing imbalances;
·
the importance of taking into account characteristics
of members' agricultural sectors, non-trade concerns and levels of development;
·
the importance of taking into consideration differences
in the trade-distorting potential of individual categories of domestic support;
·
the importance of respecting the prescribed criteria
for less trade-distorting support programmes; and
·
the importance
of transparency.
Members
of the Cairns Group (a group of agriculture-exporting countries), continued to drive
the discussion on domestic support with the aim of halving trade-distorting domestic
support by 2030. They also called for full commitment to the continuation of the
Reform Process set out in Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture, which gives
a mandate to progressively and substantially reduce trade-distorting domestic support.
Some
developing members insisted that the priority should be given to addressing the
aggregate measurement of support(
AMS) beyond de minimis. Meanwhile,
a point was also made by several members that transparency could be a standalone
outcome as it is “of equal importance to the substance”. Notifying the value of
total production (i.e. the base for calculating a member's de minimis subsidies) could be a starting point for
improving transparency, one member suggested. The view was also expressed however
that while important, transparency alone could not constitute a sufficient outcome.
In conclusion,
the chair noted again the importance of addressing the domestic support pillar before
addressing other issues. He confirmed that most members embrace two chief elements:
the need to reduce trade-distorting domestic support and to strengthen transparency.
Current proposals have indicated a direction that may be taken, but a lot of work
still needs to be done, he said.
The chair
proposed the following four elements for members' deliberations in the context of
an outcome at MC12:
·
Changes in applied tariffs and treatment of consignments
en route
·
Tariff simplification
·
Transparency of tariff rate quota (TRQ) administration
·
Framework and process towards market access reforms
The first
three elements are in the spirit of enhancing transparency and facilitating agricultural
trade without altering the core market access commitments that members currently
have in their schedules. The fourth element alludes to some broad principles for
a possible market access negotiating framework to which members may consider subscribing.
A number
of members expressed interest to examine the issue of transparency of changes in
applied tariffs and the treatment of shipment en route. The
suggestion by Russia that TRQs (i.e. by which imports within the quota pay a lesser
tariff than those outside the quota) should be administered transparently was positively
acknowledged at the meeting; however, some members considered the specific issue
to be better addressed in the regular sessions of the Agriculture Committee. Meanwhile,
a number of developing members preferred to make progress on tariff simplification
(i.e. converting non-ad valorem tariffs to ad valorem
tariffs), while some others expressed caution in singling out this technically complex
topic. The need to pursue negotiations towards broader market access reforms was
also acknowledged.
The chair
confirmed the clear interest in this pillar and reiterated the necessity to include
market access elements when determining the contours of the overall agriculture
outcome package for MC12. It is difficult but an outcome could be obtained through
incremental steps and flexible approaches, the chair said. He hoped that all members
who took the floor could lead the way.
The Cotton
4 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali) circulated the Koudougou
Ministerial Declaration on Cotton, adopted by the Cotton 4 on the occasion of their
coordination meeting held in Burkina Faso on 27-29 February (TN/AG/GEN/50 and TN/AG/SCC/GEN/21).
Recalling the WTO´s mandate on cotton and vital importance of this issue to the
cotton-producing and -exporting African countries, the Declaration urges members
to address longstanding issues at MC12, in particular trade-distorting domestic
support for cotton.
Several
groups of developing country members expressed support for the Cotton 4 declaration.
A few members highlighted the importance of transparency in cotton before dealing
with the thorny issue of domestic support reduction. Several members also reaffirmed
their willingness to continue engaging on cotton development assistance, including
cotton by-products.
The chair
recalled the tireless efforts made so far while noting the absence of any sign of
convergence. The chair therefore urged once more all members with a direct interest
in this issue to be fully engaged and to explore all possible options to move forward.
The chair
recalled that proponents on this topic had focused in their recent discussions on
how to improve transparency and monitoring of the December 2015 Nairobi Ministerial
Decision on Export Competition, including by improving the response rate to the
annual questionnaire on export competition (ECQ), the completeness and accuracy
of members' replies or the provision of contextual information.
Canada,
with the support of several proponents, confirmed ongoing outreach efforts to develop
some specific proposals in this regard, as part of their continuing efforts to address
the unfinished business in the pillar, such as through enhancing disciplines on
export credits, export credit guarantees/insurance programmes,
agricultural exporting state trading enterprises and international food aid.
The chair's
report highlighted two main elements in which there is the possibility of achieving
an outcome for MC12:
·
The exemption of foodstuffs purchased for non-commercial
humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme (WFP） from
the application of export restrictions;
·
The timeline for advance notification pursuant
to paragraph 1(b) of Article 12 of the Agreement on Agriculture.
The interventions
confirmed widespread support for the first element.
Regarding
the second element, the proponents stressed the necessity to continue the work on
all the issues covered in this area, while some developing countries reiterated
their concerns regarding possible additional administrative burden and risks of
market manipulation.
The chair's
report laid out the elements for a permanent solution, including suggestions on
the core provision, product coverage, programme coverage,
transparency, anti-circumvention and safeguards as well as a monitoring mechanism.
The main
proponent, the G33 (a group of developing countries), and some other developing
members restated the urgent need for fulfilling the mandates on the PSH pillar by
MC12. Meanwhile, one question was put forward again by non-proponents on the interaction
between the demand for subsidy reductions under the domestic support negotiations
and the demand for increasing the same support under the PSH discussions.
The chair
noted that the main obstacle in the SSM negotiation resides in its linkages with
market access. He also made some observations on the recent discussions concerning,
inter alia,
the relationship between an SSM and subsidized imports or the possibility of the
Uruguay Round negotiations on the special agricultural safeguards
(SSG) inspiring the SSM negotiations. This was with the expectation that the ideas
and elements in these discussions may possibly pave the way for a constructive engagement
among members on SSM, the chair said. Developing member proponents rejected the
link between SSM and market access. They were also of the view that domestic support
reform alone cannot address the challenges that they seek to address through an
SSM.
The German
government organized a side event to discuss the communiqué signed
by 72 agriculture ministers at the Berlin Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.
Recalling ministers' strong commitment to strengthen the WTO for achieving sustainable
agriculture trade, members stated their readiness to build on this effort and take
necessary actions to reform the agriculture sector at MC12.