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7 December 2017
International agencies and farm leaders have welcomed the decision to launch a work programme on climate and agriculture, which was endorsed by governments at the annual conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) three weeks ago in Bonn, Germany. Language in the preamble...
30 November 2017
Agriculture has long been central to trade talks at the WTO, despite only small steps forward in the 23 years since members first endorsed global rules on farm trade. Cutting trade-distorting farm subsidies and improving access to markets were key elements of the Doha Round negotiations, which...
23 November 2017
As trade talks in Geneva enter the final stretch, WTO negotiators have tabled new proposals on agriculture for the Buenos Aires ministerial that begins in just over two weeks. They have also put forward suggestions for a work programme to deal with unresolved topics after the conference takes place...
9 November 2017
Over the past fortnight, a series of WTO members have put forward new proposals involving different aspects of the agriculture talks, including on trade-distorting domestic support, public stockholding for food security purposes, and on the quality and enforcement of notification requirements. In...
8 November 2017
The launch of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round in 2001, also known as the Doha Development Agenda, triggered much hope among developing countries that the multilateral trade rulebook could be updated to better fit their specific needs and priorities. “We shall continue to make positive...
8 November 2017
At the Buenos Aires ministerial conference, WTO members will have an immediate opportunity to make progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target 14.6 by establishing meaningful disciplines on fisheries subsidies to curb their environmental effects on fish stocks. Why are these...
8 November 2017
Agriculture is again set to be a central negotiating issue in talks at the WTO’s Eleventh Ministerial Conference. Trade-distorting subsidies, including for key LDC exports such as cotton, are on the negotiating table, along with other topics. What can LDCs expect? New estimates from the UN Food and...
8 November 2017
Inadequate institutional and productive capacities constitute major impediments to the participation of least developed countries in global trade. How is the Enhanced Integrated Framework supporting them, particularly in Africa, in their efforts to overcome these barriers and benefit more from...
30 October 2017
In this article the author argues for the need to speed up implementation of the Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Export Competition and work towards the elimination of agricultural export subsidies. There are commercial reasons to do so. The World Trade Organization’s Eleventh Ministerial...
26 October 2017
Susana Malcorra, the Argentine minister who will chair the WTO’s upcoming ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, told negotiators in Geneva last week that fisheries subsidies and agriculture remain high on the agenda for the December meeting, while reminding them that issues that do not yield...
19 October 2017
A slate of new negotiating proposals on farm subsidies and cotton reflect different views on how to balance ambitious demands with realism in the run-up to the WTO’s eleventh ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this December, trade sources have said. As negotiators prepare to meet...
5 October 2017
The EU has scrapped domestic production quotas for sugar, in a long-awaited move which analysts say is set to boost the bloc’s output and dampen global prices. The reform, which was implemented on 30 September, will remove limits on the volume of sugar that EU beet growers can produce. It was first...
21 September 2017
The Kenyan ambassador who chairs the WTO’s negotiations on agriculture has issued a new informal paper mapping the “state of play” in the talks ahead of a ministerial-level meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, in early October. Trade sources told Bridges that the Marrakesh meeting will be key in...
21 September 2017
The Kenyan ambassador who chairs the WTO’s negotiations on agriculture has issued a new informal paper mapping the “state of play” in the talks ahead of a ministerial-level meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, in early October. Trade sources told Bridges that the Marrakesh meeting will be key in...
14 August 2017
Despite the high costs involved, a large number of governments hold wheat and rice stocks. In this article, the author considers the factors that drive public stockholding programmes, and reviews national experiences with public stockholding in relation to food security . Finally, the article...
28 July 2017
Ministers and top officials from UN member states signed off on a declaration last week aimed at advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a particular focus on the theme of “eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world.” The declaration...
27 July 2017
Governments must “significantly accelerate” their work on farm trade topics ahead of the WTO’s eleventh ministerial conference in Buenos Aires this December, says a new report from the chair of the agriculture negotiations, Kenyan ambassador Stephen Karau. The report, prepared for a negotiating...
27 July 2017
Ministers and top officials from UN member states signed off on a declaration last week aimed at advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a particular focus on the theme of “eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world.” The declaration...
20 July 2017
The EU, Brazil, and three other Latin American countries have tabled a new proposal on farm subsidy reform for negotiation ahead of the WTO’s eleventh ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this December. Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay also co-sponsored the proposal, which was submitted...
13 July 2017
Japan’s levels of trade-distorting agricultural support showed a slight drop in 2013 and 2014, according to new data that the country reported to the global trade body earlier this month. At just over ¥900 billion (US$9 billion at historical exchange rates for that period), trade-distorting support...