Committee
on agriculture in special session
Report by the Chairperson, H.E. mr alparslan acarsoy
8
February 2024
State of play in the agricuLture negotiations
This summary document has been prepared by the Chair of the Special
Session of the Committee on Agriculture under his own responsibility to
facilitate discussions among Members. It does not purport to represent or
capture all the views of Members on the negotiating issues.
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1 Introduction.. 1
2 Domestic Support. 3
3 Market Access. 4
4 Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). 5
5 Export Restrictions. 5
6 Export Competition.. 7
7 Cotton.. 7
8 Public Stockholding for Food Security
Purposes (PSH). 8
9 food security and cross-cutting issues. 10
1.1. The important role being played
by the agriculture and food sector in the economies of almost all Members is
widely acknowledged. For many, the sector contributes significantly to their
food security and poverty reduction strategies. It also provides employment and
livelihood for a substantial number of people around the world, and supports
economic growth, wealth creation and development programmes. The sector has
undergone substantial transformation in the last 30 years since the Uruguay
Round Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) entered into force. It is facing a myriad
of newer challenges, including climate change and sustainability concerns.
There are also many opportunities to leverage technological advances to produce
efficiently and sustainably to feed a growing world population.
1.2. The role of trade in contributing
to food and livelihood security is also widely acknowledged. According to the
Food and Agriculture Organization, one out of four calories produced around the
world is traded across an international border. In that regard, trade acts as a
conveyor belt transporting food from surplus to deficit areas. While the value
of agricultural trade has increased significantly from around USD 300
billion in 1995 to USD 1.5 trillion in 2022, Members still see the need to
update global agricultural trade rules to further the much-valued agricultural
reform process, which commenced in 1995 with the entry into force of the AoA,
following grand collective efforts by Members in the Uruguay Round. This update
is essential to achieve the advancements and refinements in the AoA that WTO
Members have been awaiting since negotiations began nearly 25 years ago,
and to enable the sector to address contemporary challenges facing the
agricultural sector more effectively.
1.3. Regrettably, Members have
struggled to fulfil in its entirety the mandate set out in Article 20 of the
AoA, as well as other relevant Ministerial mandates. With the exception of a
few outcomes, including those on Public Stockholding and the administration of
Tariff Rate Quotas at the Ninth Ministerial Conference in Bali in 2013, and on
Export Competition at the Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in 2015,
there has not been any substantive outcome in the agriculture negotiations
since they were launched in 2000. Notwithstanding the food security outcomes at
the Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12), it is also notable that there was no
decision on any of the core negotiating agricultural issues at the last two
Ministerial Conferences.
1.4. Since my appointment as the Chair
of the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA-SS) in January
2023, I have held numerous consultations with Members in various
configurations, as well as many meetings of the CoA-SS and the Dedicated
Sessions on Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes (PSH) and the
Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) with the view to making progress in the
negotiations.[1]
To deepen understanding of the issues and facilitate greater appreciation of
the positions of different Members on the negotiating issues, I have encouraged
evidence-based negotiations by organizing focused seminars and discussions on
several critical negotiating issues - PSH, domestic support, market access and
export restrictions - as well as on food security, which is a cross-cutting
topic of paramount importance to the Membership. I also held some specific
meetings dedicated to cotton[2],
which constitutes a priority for a large group of developing countries,
including many least developed countries (LDCs). Meetings were also convened at
the Senior Officials and Ministerial levels to help break the stalemate in the
agriculture negotiations and provide clear directions to guide negotiators on
how progress could be made on the most intractable issues – PSH and domestic
support – and in the overall negotiations.
1.5. While these engagements at the
political level were useful, they did not succeed in changing Members'
fundamental positions on the negotiating issues. This was very much the case
for the two most contentious issues, namely PSH and domestic support. As set
out below, whereas PSH proponents insist on the adoption of a permanent
solution, mandated to be agreed and adopted already by MC11 in 2017, others –
particularly exporting Members – believe that PSH should be addressed within
the ambit of the overall domestic support negotiations considering the
intricate proximity of issues involved in the otherwise separately conducted
negotiations on the two topics. This view is contested by the PSH proponents
who insist that PSH was collectively agreed by the Membership at the highest
level to be put on a separate track distinct from the agriculture negotiations,
and that there is no basis for proposing later to link it to the domestic
support negotiations. For some PSH proponents, it is the lack of political will
which is preventing the resolution of this issue, as commendable technical work
has been done over the years.
1.6. The non-proponents counter that
the PSH issue cannot be resolved in isolation from other issues in the domestic
support negotiations, and that a holistic approach is needed to ensure balanced
outcomes and politically acceptable trade-offs for all. For them, all the
negotiating issues should be addressed concurrently, and priority should not be
given to addressing one issue at the expense of the others. As set out below,
the negotiations on domestic support have also been very contentious. Whereas
all Members agree on the need to reduce trade-distorting support, there are
disagreements on some fundamental negotiating elements, including the starting
point and the scope of support to be reduced/disciplined.
1.7. While linkages are usually
natural in any multi-topic negotiations, for progress to be made in the
agriculture negotiations, it is imperative that solutions should be found to
these two overarching issues if the current stalemate is to be broken. In seeking
to make progress on these issues, several Members have stated the need for
outcomes to address the food security challenges being faced by several
Members, particularly LDCs and net food-importing developing countries
(NFIDCs), as well as the sustainability challenges currently being faced,
notably as a result of climate change.
1.8. This report summarizes the state of play in the agriculture
negotiations and describes the main developments under my Chairmanship since my
appointment in January 2023 until 30 January 2024, when I introduced a draft
Ministerial text for Members' consideration, based on my assessment of the
state of play in the negotiations at this juncture. The draft text is intended
to serve as a vehicle for the negotiations among Members with the ultimate goal
of facilitating the achievement of an outcome on agriculture at MC13.[3]
1.9. This report is based on the numerous written submissions and oral interventions made by Members
at meetings of the CoA-SS and the Dedicated Sessions of the CoA-SS on PSH and
SSM, as well as in other meetings in various configurations.
1.10. It does not purport to be a
consensus document or exhaustively reflect all the positions advocated by
Members on the various issues under negotiation. From my perspective as Chair,
this stocktaking is intended first to acknowledge the substantive work undertaken
so far
by Members, as reflected in the non-exhaustive list of submissions annexed to
this report, and to build on that body of work, as negotiations continue after
MC13. The report also aims to furnish Ministers with a comprehensive background
to the existing challenges faced in the negotiations and to support Members in
their ongoing efforts in soliciting the necessary guidance from Ministers at MC13,
scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on 26-29 February 2024.
[1] In total, eight informal CoA-SS meetings, and seven Dedicated Sessions
on PSH and SSM, respectively.
[2] Including two Cotton Quad Plus consultations.
[3] See _RD/AG/128
and Chair's report in _JOB/AG/258.