Race to the April Deadline: Assessing Modalities for the Doha Round’s Agricultural Negotiations

4th April 2006 • Co-organised with International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council

The WTO’s Doha Round negotiations are at a crucial stage. The modalities for an agricultural agreement are still to be decided, and the deadline of April 30 is approaching fast. The modalities, once agreed, will become WTO rules on agriculture and be legally binding commitments for WTO members.

In February 2006, Ambassador Crawford Falconer, Chairperson of the WTO Agricultural Negotiating Committee, circulated a set of questions on the modalities for an agriculture agreement. These questions isolated the main issues on which decisions still have to be taken.

In his presentation, Tim Josling, Professor Emeritus Food Research Institute, Stanford University and member of the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Network, will examine the questions posed by the Chair of the Agriculture Committee. Their focus is on the remaining technical and operational aspects relating to the three pillars of the Uruguay Round Agreement - market access, domestic support and export competition - and on the other elements that will be necessary for an agreement, such as a Geographical Indicators, the Peace Clause, a Continuation Clause, monitoring and notification, tariff escalation, and export taxes and restrictions.

Participants

Amb. Manzoor Ahmad
Permanent Mission of Pakistan

Maria Fe Alberto Chau Huu
Permanent Mission of the Phillipines

Coruta Babb-Schaefer
Permanent Mission of Barbados

Suren Badral
Permanent Mission of Mongolia

Rebecca Berendt
Permanent Mission of New Zealand

Su-San Chang
Permanent Mission of Taiwan

Carlos Chocano
Permanent Mission of Peru

Pamela Cooper
Permanent Mission of Canada

Nicholas Dusson
Intellectual Property Watch

Amb. Norman Harris
Permanent Mission of Panama

Alaa Hegazy
Permanent Mission of Egypt

Myrna Huggins
Permanent Missionof Trinidad and Tobago

Jong Jin Kim
Permanent Mission of Korea

Athita Komindr
Permanent Mission of Thailand

Panos Konandreas
FAO

Trudy Lewis
Permanent Missionof Trinidad and Tobago

Amb. Mario Matus
Permanent Mission of Chile

Isabel M. Mazzei
Oxfam International

Martha Piggot
Intellectual Property Watch

Zandra Rodriguez
Permanent Mission of Bolivia

Luisa A. Rodriguez O.
South Centre

Abdoulaye Sanoko
Permanent Mission of Mali

Peter Thompson
Permanent Mission of the European Commission

Frank Valderrama
Permanent Mission of Venezuela

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz
ICTSD

Constantine Bartel
ICTSD

Christophe Bellmann
ICTSD

Mahesh Sugathan
ICTSD

Marie Chamay
ICTSD

Adriana Verdier
ICTSD

Megan Sheahan
ICTSD