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

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  Introduction

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.