The WTO, Agriculture, and DevelopingCountries: The Need for Trade Reforms (original) (raw)
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WTO and Agricultural Trade - Some Issues and Perspectives
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This paper reviews the demands of developing countries in the new round of WTO agricultural negotiations which began in Geneva in March 2000 based on the submissions to the Special Session up to November 2000. Two issues of principle are identified. The first is the developing country demand for equality of outcomes in the negotiations, and not just equality of commitments. Because developed countries made the most use of agricultural support and protection in the past, developing countries argue that equal reduction commitments would still leave a very lop-sided playing-field in which the great bulk of support and protection would continue to be provided by the developed countries. The second issue concerns the role and content of special and differential treatment (SDT) in the current round. The paper notes the need for specific proposals under this heading, but warns that too much flexibility could encourage developing countries down a road which Europe has found leads to costly ...
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established with an alluring pro1nise of enhancing the living standards of people around the lvorld, creating jobs and spurring development, lvhile ensuring equitable distribution of the fruits of trade, 1vith particular regard to the needs of the poor. Ho1vever, critics see the WTO as a mercantilist system tailored to the commercial interests of wealthy nations and their corporations, with little or no attention to the interests of the poor. What happens to agriculture affects the poor disproportionately. If spurring economic development and thereby enhancing the living standards of people is indeed the WTO 's goal, no sector seems more significant to the accomplishment of that mission than agriculture. Hence, probing the fairness of agricultural trade provides a special insight ·with lvhich to judge whether the WTO is true to its word, and conversely, to evaluate the validity of criticism directed against the trading regime. That is the a...
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On the face of it, many developing countries, even least developed ones, seem to be doing just fine in terms of agricultural production and trade expansion. This paper cannot answer the question whether the present multilateral rules framework strengthens or imperils resourcepoor countries and farmers. Instead, it describes a 'reform programme' which is far from being completed, and it shows where the 'development promises' of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) remain unfulfilled. Based on the experiences with the Uruguay Round, it argues that even the completion of the Doha Development Round is likely to fail to address some specific concerns of net foodimporting developing countries (NFIDC) and resource-poor farmers. A number of additional specific commitments by developed and emerging economies are required to fulfil the promise "to establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system".
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Agriculture sector plays a vital role in the world economy and provides food for every one of us. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is important body in the international trade and agriculture. Surprisingly, the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) of WTO does not refer to food and agriculture at all. Agricultural subsidies and trade become controversial issues in the Doha round of talks in the recent past. The entry of China into the WTO has a dramatic impact on the country's farmers. This article discusses the impact of China’s entry in the WTO. It also discusses about the WTO and agricultural trade liberalization in developing countries. Further, it analyses critically Doha round of talks on agriculture.
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A further round of negotiations on agricultural trade liberalisation began in the WTO in March 2000. This paper discusses the interests of developing countries in these negotiations. Compared to the developed countries, developing countries have relatively few 'rights' to agricultural support under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and thus have an interest in pressing for a significant tightening of agricultural support disciplines. On the other hand, food importing and least developed countries wish to retain the maximum amount of flexibility to pursue domestic food security and rural development policies and are concerned about the possible negative effects of higher world food prices resulting from a reduction in developed country agricultural support. An important aspect of the negotiations is the extent to which developing countries will be able to, or should, rely on special and differential treatment to reconcile these differences. Developing countries nee...
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Four themes in the developing countries' position are highlighted. (i) They are seeking meaningful improvements in market access for their agricultural exports. (ii) They have highlighted the asymmetry of current WTO obligations under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, and are seeking greater equality of outcomes in the new round. (iii) Meaningful concessions on special and differential treatment will be necessary to satisfy the interests of both exporters and importers, especially on the scope to be allowed for tariff protection to domestic food production. (iv) Innovative and reliable guarantees will need to be provided to the least developed food importers to protect them against the risk of world price volatility.