The purpose of this report is to provide the international trade and sustainable development community with a comprehensive analytical account of the multilateral trade negotiations in agriculture currently underway at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva
The purpose of this report is to provide the international trade and sustainable development community with a comprehensive analytical account of the multilateral trade negotiations in agriculture currently underway at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva.
Divided into four sections, the report focuses provides:
• An update on the special negotiating sessions of the WTO Committee on Agriculture held in November 2000 and February 2001;
• An analysis of the synergies between proposals to modify the Green Box measures of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and a new proposal to create a “Development Box”;
The agriculture negotiations at the WTO have continued at an accelerated pace since March 2000. 36 proposals have been submitted during this period and others are still expected at this writing. In general the active participation of delegations can be taken as a sign of interest, but it is clear from the divergent ideas offered within them that agreement is still far away. At this point in the negotiation Members have heard from all of the major delegations as well as from a very broad selection of others, and are still assessing their possible strategies prior to the stocktaking in March. So far most Members have not moved into an active mode in negotiating positions as the procedural and scope related questions occupy most of their time. This phase of the negotiation can be likened to the assembly of ingredients for cooking a dinner in which the menu has not yet been decided.
The section of the report on synergies between the Green Box and a possible Development Box indicates that flexibility and convergence is very likely within the context of current mechanisms such as the Green Box, but much less likely on the development of new flexibility that might change the current framework of the AoA. Possible outcomes are constrained by the nature of the AoA itself, as well as by the complications of incorporating divergent agendas into the rules themselves (as opposed to providing flexibility around universal rules). The Development Box and several other proposals as they now stand suggest an approach to flexibility that will most likely be resisted by many Members, including those from developing countries who seek reliable market access in other developing countries. It should also be noted that the quest for more flexibility in the rules is an issue that is running across the WTO and for which the stakes are very high. As such, flexibility should be considered as a central issue not only to agriculture, but also to the dynamics of a new round.
The layout of the report is simple to follow and takes its form from the general negotiating modalities laid out in the Agreement on Agriculture Article 20: market access, domestic, export competition, non-trade concerns and special and differential treatment. Moreover, each subsection in Section 3 begins with a quick reference guide to help readers recall the key points in proposals submitted to date. Trade statistics have also been added to help readers understand the relative agriculture trade weights characteristic of each country and country grouping. These data are essential for assessing the outcomes of the negotiation.
ICTSD based its analysis on a research methodology based on extensive outreach to delegations in Geneva and Capitals, as well as analysis of negotiation proposals. It should be stressed that Section 4, “Green Box/Development Box: Emerging Synergies and Convergence From A Joint Production Perspective”, while thorough, is highly speculative and must be taken as such.