Communication from the Chair

1.  Members may recall the discussions at the last meeting of the Committee on Agriculture Working Group on 20 November 2023, and subsequently at the Committee on Agriculture meeting on the 27‑29 November 2023, under the agenda item on the work programme launched pursuant to paragraph 8 of the MC12 Declaration on the emergency response to food insecurity. At both meetings, there was a broad agreement on the report by the Working Group Coordinator contained in _RD/AG/120/Rev.2. However, one Member was unable to join the consensus due to concerns it had expressed on some elements of the report. Simultaneously, other Members expressed their inability to accept any substantive changes to the report for reasons of delicate balance within the document. At that time, I had urged the concerned Member to reconsider its position, encouraging it to demonstrate the necessary flexibility to join consensus on the revised report by the Coordinator. I had also expressed my readiness to convene a special meeting of the Committee to finalize the report and recommendations as and when a consensus would be feasible.

2.  I have received signals indicating that Members are now in a position to reach consensus based on the revised Coordinator's report in _RD/AG/120/Rev.2, which is included in Attachment to this communication. The attachment reproduces verbatim the content of the document _RD/AG/120/Rev.2, with the exception of a single-word change (from 'reservations' to 'preoccupation') in the last sentence of paragraph 10 to accommodate a suggestion made by the Member whose position that sentence seeks to capture, along with minor editorial adjustments in paragraph 7 and Annex 1 to reflect additional meeting dates and the extended process the Committee has undergone beyond end-November 2023 up until the special meeting scheduled for 17 April 2024.

3.  Secondly, you may recall my interventions at the September and November 2023 Committee meetings, during which I reminded Members that the implementation of the 1994 Marrakesh Decision concerning LDCs and NFIDCs, which is central to the current work programme, mandates the Committee to report to the Ministerial Conference on the follow-up to the Decision. According to paragraph 18 of its working procedures[1], the Committee has a permanent mandate and instruction to report to the Ministerial Conference on the follow-up to the Marrakesh Decision. Now that the 13^th Ministerial Conference has concluded, the Committee, following its approval of the report of the work programme, may report to the General Council accordingly about this positive development. As the Chair of the Committee, both my predecessor and I have regularly provided updates to the Chair of the General Council on the progress made in the Committee under the work programme.[2]

4.  I look forward to constructive engagement by all Members at this special meeting on 17 April 2024.