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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb24/23) Abu Dhabi, 26 Feb (D. Ravi Kanth) — Trade ministers of more than 40 countries of the Group of 33 (G33), coordinated by Indonesia, on 25 February issued a clarion call for adopting the much-delayed mandated “permanent solution” for public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security at the WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi. A day before the commencement of MC13 at the Abu Dhabi conference hall, the G33 trade ministers expressed deep concern that “almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, and hunger will increase significantly in Africa by 2030, as recently projected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.” Regretting the “serious lack of progress in agriculture trade negotiations, including to fulfil the outstanding mandates of previous Ministerial Conferences,” the G33 trade ministers cautioned that “progress is key to restore trust between Members and preserve the credibility of the WTO.” “The vast majority of the G33 Members recognize the critical importance of public stockholding for food security purposes for developing country Members, including LDCs and NFIDCs, in meeting our food and livelihood security, as well as our rural development imperative, including supporting low income or resource poor producers,” the G33 trade ministers emphasized. Recalling their proposal (JOB/AG/229), the G33 trade ministers urged “all Members to make all concerted efforts to agree and adopt a permanent solution on the issue.” The G33 members reiterated ” the importance of the Proposal JOB/AG/229 submitted with the African Group and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group, and invite other Members to engage constructively with the elements contained therein, as a basis to achieve outcome on public stockholding for food security purposes in the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference.” India issued a strong statement at the meeting, saying that due to sustained efforts of the G33 group based on proposal JOB/AG/229, the chair included in his draft chair’s text “a decision on a permanent solution to the PSH.” Without naming the countries, the Indian official said that “some of the countries are blocking the negotiations on the PSH and are trying again to undermine the mandate given by the Ministers for more than a decade.” India said that countries “have witnessed very challenging times in recent years regarding the food security of a large population in developing countries, including LDCs,” adding that they are “still facing high food inflation in many parts of the world.” Citing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 on the elimination of hunger by 2030, India said that “over 700 million people were reportedly suffering from hunger in 2022, and it’s been projected by FAO that more than 600 million will continue to remain in the clutches of hunger by 2030.” India said that “it goes without saying that food security is national security. Besides, food security is considered a non-trade concern in the Agreement on Agriculture.” India said, “the PSH programmes implemented by India have contributed immensely to overcoming the food security concerns of the poor and vulnerable sections of the population during the most challenging period.” India said that the PSH programs providing food to more than 814 million people from PSH stocks has helped in addressing hunger. It said that its “subsidies and other Government interventions played a very important role in achieving this sufficiency not only in increasing food-grains production but also in its reach to the poor and hungry.” India said it “is fighting for all the developing countries, including the LDCs, collectively based on our own experience.” Further, the ACP, G33, and the African Group together represent more than 61% of the world’s population, India said, adding that “as we are seeking a permanent solution to PSH, our voice needs to be heard.” SSM On SSM, the G33 reiterated “developing country Members’ right to the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) as an important instrument against major import surges or sudden price declines, and urge Members to agree and adopt a decision on SSM by the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference.” The G33 said that it believes that “the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference provides an important opportunity to reinforce a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable, and transparent multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core.” The G33 urged all countries “to engage constructively to achieve a meaningful outcome on agriculture at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference.” Meanwhile, trade ministers of the Cotton-Four (C4) countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad – plus Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa on 25 February severely criticized one major industrialized country for its continued cotton subsidies worth billions of dollars, which are responsible for the untold misery and devastation in the C4 countries. At a press conference in Abu Dhabi, the C4 countries plus Cote d’Ivoire presented a very grim picture of continuing human tragedy in their countries because of the refusal by that country to negotiate the reduction commitments in domestic support since the WTO’s fifth ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, in 2003. “Today, Africa is a victim of the policies followed by the industrialized countries, particularly in cotton,” said one of the C4 trade ministers. The minister said that “we were promised that reduction commitments in domestic support will be dealt with ambitiously, expeditiously, and specifically at the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting in 2005, but they failed to deliver on this promise.” The C4 countries have pinned their hopes on MC13 to deliver a meaningful outcome on cotton, failing which they will be “pushed into the abyss”, the trade minister said. +
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