New working group process starts as complementary forum to advance agriculture talks
WTO agriculture negotiators met on 14 February to discuss domestic support and public stockholding for food security purposes following the first meetings of the two newly established working groups on these two topics. Members said they were encouraged by the active participation in the working groups and acknowledged the new process as a useful complementary forum for the Committee on Agriculture meeting in special session.
In his opening remarks, the chair, Ambassador John Deep Ford of Guyana, noted that members have reaffirmed the central role of agriculture and their strong commitment to the negotiations through their participation in the Committee on Agriculture. “Members have demonstrated a high level of interactive engagement in the discussions,” he said.
Thanking members for their numerous submissions and presentations, the chair congratulated them for having enhanced the understanding of the relevant issues in the negotiations, in particular through topic-by-topic dedicated sessions. He highlighted that the committee has decided to add another track to the negotiations by initiating a new process of working groups open to all members. The chair stressed the need to achieve step-by-step progress during the course of the year.
Both the chair and members emphasized that the work in the working groups shall be complementary and supportive, rather than a substitute, to the existing negotiations in the Committee. The working groups will adhere to the fundamental principles of being “inclusive, informal, interactive, cooperative, collaborative, (and) convergence building”, the chair said.
Co-coordinators of two of the working groups – Mr Craig Douglas (Jamaica) and David Reid (New Zealand) for domestic support and Mr Alf Vederhus (Norway) for public stockholding for food security purposes – reported on the first meetings of their respective groups. They both reported a high level of attendance and active engagement.
The two working groups, which met for the first time on 5 February, are among the seven working groups recently established by the Committee following an initiative proposed by the chair in December 2018. The other working groups – covering market access, the special safeguard mechanism, export competition and export restrictions – will meet in the coming weeks in a phased manner. In addition, a meeting on cotton was scheduled for 15 February. All the working groups will report to the Committee.
The chair invited members to answer the following questions during the meeting:
- For domestic support: Given the long-term goals of the Agreement on Agriculture and all the deliberations to date, what would be the first one or two steps that would move us forward in the negotiations and around which there might be the greatest convergence?
- For public stockholding：What are the most essential elements that need to be part of a permanent solution?
The chair noted that the immediate goal of the working groups is to better understand members’ views, and to investigate how to reduce and ultimately remove differences in positions on each thematic area. The ultimate goal, he said, was to achieve an outcome in the agriculture negotiations by bridging the gaps in members’ negotiating positions.
The chair encouraged members to fully use the working groups as a useful platform for seeking to break the impasse and create convergence of views.
Praising the discussion as “very fruitful”, the chair said he will make every effort to avoid waiting until the next Ministerial Conference in Astana to negotiate. He sincerely hoped that through in-depth discussions, members could identify elements that could lead to the development of an incremental package for discussion in the second half of the year in Geneva.
Domestic support
Following the report by the coordinator of the working group on domestic support, nearly all members reaffirmed that this issue remains their main priority. One delegation stressed that the issue is particularly important given that it can only be addressed in the WTO’s multilateral forum. Discussions focused notably on the levels and types of domestic support that should be addressed.
Many developing countries called for special and differential treatment to be an integral part of the discussions. Several developing members also expressed support for the joint proposal from China and India to eliminate the Aggregate Measurement of Support(AMS) above the de minimis level.
Some members flagged their sensitivities regarding politically sensitive products. Issues such as the overall level of support, the Amber box, the Green box, as well as the treatment of the Blue box and Article 6.2 support, and support granted to cotton were also confirmed as issues of interest by some delegations. The importance of transparency was also reaffirmed.
Some members pitched new areas for discussion, such as subsidies provided to products that are exported vs. those domestically consumed and the impact of support to resource-poor farmers. Some also stressed there should be no a priori exclusion of issues.
Canada presented its analytical tool on domestic support containing information on all members that have submitted notifications on domestic support from 2001 to 2014. Members commended Canada’s efforts and the Chair encouraged members to use and suggest improvements to this tool.
Public stockholding
Members remained divided on how to proceed with the public stockholding issue. Proponents, led by the G33 group of developing countries, repeatedly called members’ attention to the mandate set by the Bali and Nairobi ministerial decisions and the General Council decision in 2014. They highlighted that this issue is on a separate negotiating track and therefore should not be linked to other issues. They requested that a permanent solution should cover both the existing and future public stockholding programmes in developing countries and called for a permanent solution to be found by the next Ministerial Conference in June 2020.
Other members asked for more transparency and requested “additional information” on public stockholding programmes, the prices at which stocks are procured and the disposal of stocks to better understand the needs of the proponents and to better assess the size of the exemption being sought. The chair took note of the different elements that should be part of a permanent solution put forward by members during the meeting.
In conclusion, the chair stressed the mandate for public stockholding. He asked members to exercise flexibility and evolve their positions so that progress can be made in the run-up to the 12th Ministerial Conference. He promised to work with the coordinator to see what information would be useful to help find a path towards greater understanding and create convergence.
Next meetings of the Committee
- 14-15 March
- 11-12 April
Co-coordinators of the seven working groups
- Domestic support — Mr Craig Douglas (Jamaica) and Mr David Reid (New Zealand)
- Public stockholding — Mr Alf Vederhus (Norway)
- Market access — Mr Richard Emerson (Australia) and Mr Mohsin Rafiq (Pakistan)
- Special safeguard mechanism — Mr Bruno Haessig (Switzerland)
- Export competition — Mr Greg Macdonald (Canada) and Ms Noncedo Vutula (South Africa)
- Export restrictions — Mr Yasuyuki Kobayashi (Japan) and Mr Gabriel Martinez (Argentina)
- Cotton – Mr John Deep Ford (Chair) with Daniel Costa Figueiredo (Brazil) as Friend of the Chair
Source: wto.org
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