WTO Members Review
Agriculture Talks, Seek Path Forward Post-Impasse
WTO members expressed their views on 23 September regarding the current state
of the agriculture negotiations and how best to move them forward following the
inconclusive outcome of talks in this area at the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference
in Yaoundé earlier this year.
Meeting
Context
·
23 Sept 2026: Committee on Agriculture in Special Session
(CoA-SS) met after inconclusive outcome at MC14
in Yaoundé.
·
Chair:
Ambassador Ali Sarfraz Hussain (Pakistan).
·
WTO
Secretariat presented history of domestic
support negotiations.
Key
Discussions
·
Agriculture
reaffirmed as central to WTO agenda.
·
Members
stressed food security as primary goal.
·
Calls
for technical exchanges, thematic sessions, evidence-based
discussions
to break negotiation deadlock.
·
Suggestions:
Secretariat compilation of proposals, review of recent agricultural market trends.
Historical
Context
·
Negotiations
began in 2000 under Article 20 of AoA.
·
Secretariat
overview traced rules back to GATT 1947 and Uruguay Round commitments.
Outstanding
Issues
·
Public stock procurement at administered
prices
in developing economies.
·
Proposed
Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for tariff hikes during import surges or
price falls.
·
Divergent
views persist among members.
Next
Steps
·
Chair
to continue informal engagement for convergence.
·
Future
thematic sessions to cover: export
competition, export restrictions, public stock procurement, SSM, cotton.
·
Next
meetings scheduled for 27 Oct & 23 Nov 2026.
[ABS News Service/26.09.2026]
Negotiations on agriculture began
in 2000, under Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture, but have achieved only
limited progress since then.
At the 23 September meeting of
the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session (CoA-SS), the Chair, Ambassador
Ali Sarfraz Hussain (Pakistan), asked members to share their views on how to advance
the negotiations. WTO Secretariat staff also made a presentation on the history
of negotiations on agricultural domestic support as part of a series looking at
how talks on various negotiating topics have evolved over time.
Many members reaffirmed that
agriculture remains central to the WTO negotiating agenda and underscored the importance
of the CoA-SS as the central forum for the agriculture negotiations. However, some
members underscored the implications of the broader discussions on WTO reform for
agriculture, while one member viewed the two processes as complementary.
At the meeting, many members
expressed their desire to make progress in the negotiations and made specific suggestions
to this effect. However, some considered that previous efforts at breaking the logjam
on agriculture had proven ineffective thus far and called for reflection on the
underlying reasons behind the impasse.
The suggestions aimed at resuming
the negotiations included technical exchanges, thematic sessions, evidence-based
discussions, and regular, structured engagement among members to help rebuild the
conditions necessary for resuming meaningful negotiations. Some also suggested that
technical exchanges be facilitated by a compilation from the Secretariat of all
existing proposals, topic by topic, to enable a more targeted and structured discussion.
Many members from various groups
underscored that food security should remain the primary goal of the negotiations.
Some members emphasized that the negotiations should take full account of the profound
changes that have taken place over the past 30 years, as well as contemporary challenges
facing the agricultural trading system. Some members also emphasized the need to
give priority to topics covered by past ministerial decisions, while others underscored
the need to ensure balanced and comprehensive negotiations across the board.
Members highlighted the importance
of preserving and sharing institutional memory of the negotiations. They welcomed
the presentations already provided by the WTO Secretariat on the history of the
negotiations and called for similar presentations on other negotiating topics in
order to help inform and advance future discussions. Some further proposed undertaking
a review of recent developments in agricultural markets - including trends in production,
trade, export, and overall levels of protection - to better understand contemporary
challenges facing members.
In response to earlier requests
by members, the Secretariat presented a concise overview of the history of domestic
support negotiations.
The history stretched back to
the first rounds of agricultural rules developed under the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), beginning in 1947. The overview looked at the disciplines
and commitments in the Agreement on Agriculture, which was agreed to by negotiators
during the Uruguay Round.
The Secretariat presentation
included a summary of members' negotiating submissions, including technical and
discussion papers, as well as various ministerial statements and drafts put forward
in recent years.
Members expressed their gratitude
for the presentation and the valuable context it provided.
The meeting was followed by dedicated
sessions looking at two specific outstanding negotiating topics. One of the sessions
looked at how food purchased in developing economies at administrated prices for
public stocks is addressed under WTO farm subsidy rules. The other session considered the proposed "special
safeguard mechanism" which would allow developing economies to raise tariffs
temporarily in the event of a sudden surge in import volumes or a fall in prices.
WTO members continued to express
divergent views on how to move forward in the negotiations in these two areas.
The Chair concluded the session
by saying that he would continue to engage with members in informal sessions with
the aim of seeking convergence. He stated that future sessions of the CoA-SS would
include thematic presentations on export competition (an area of the talks covering
export subsidies and measures considered to be analogous), export restrictions on
foodstuffs, the procurement of food for public stocks, the proposed "special
safeguard mechanism" and cotton.
The next meetings of the negotiating
body on agriculture are planned for 27 October and 23 November.