Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 6 • 2nd April 2004
WTO COTTON WORKSHOP DISCUSSES DEVELOPMENT, LEAVES TRADE ASIDE
WTO COTTON WORKSHOP DISCUSSES DEVELOPMENT, LEAVES TRADE ASIDE
From 23-24 March an African Regional Workshop — organised by the WTO — was held in Cotonou, Benin. Representatives from 30 African cotton-producing countries and from various international organisations attended the meeting, which formed part of the WTO’s technical assistance programme. The workshop focused primarily on the development assistance aspects of the Cotton Sector Initiative that was initiated by Benin, Chad, Mali and Burkina Faso at the WTO Committee on Agriculture, prior to the WTO Ministerial Conference held in September 2003,. The exclusive development focus was criticised by civil society groups and participants from African countries, who called for more discussions on cotton subsidies and trade distortions.
Tensions between trade and development
In his opening remarks to the workshop, WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi reminded participants that the workshop was intended to focus "exclusively on the development assistance component of the Cotton initiative" and urged them to seek out concrete outcomes on financial and technical assistance. African observers of the meeting argued that the workshop’s focus on the development dimension of the Cotton Initiative was an attempt to deflect the debate from trade issues, the main concern of West African countries. Some civil society groups also called on the US and the EC to address the issue of subsidies instead of using promises on development funds for the African cotton sector as an excuse for not dealing with the issue directly. Furthermore, hundreds of African farmers, mobilised within the West African Farmers and Producers’ Organisations Network (ROPPA), gathered in Cotonou during the workshop to express their discontent with subsidies granted to producers in developed countries, which they claim have led to declining global prices and deteriorating terms of trade for cotton. The African producers furthermore, underlined the importance of cotton for their livelihoods as it allows them to build water supply systems; health centres and to send children to school. In a statement, they suggested a provisional financial compensation for losses incurred due to cotton subsidies.
Cotton as a stand-alone issue
The cotton initiative, submitted to the WTO Committee on Agriculture before the WTO Cancun Ministerial Conference (BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 2 June 2003), called for the phasing out of subsidies provided to developed country cotton producers and for a compensation mechanism to offset the income losses experienced by West African countries.
At the Cancun Ministerial conference no consensus was reached on the initiative. Following the Cancun meeting, there have been two divergent perspectives on how to move the cotton issue forward. One is the continual inclusion of it in the Agricultural Committee negotiations. The other, is the separation of cotton as a ’stand-alone issue’, to be discussed outside of agriculture negotiations. This approach is favoured by African countries who are concerned that the issue could lose importance and urgency if subsumed under the difficult and slow negotiations on agriculture.
No firm commitment on assistance
The outcomes of the workshop, summarised by the WTO Secretariat, focuses on the development aspects of the Cotton Initiative. Representatives of the Quad group — the US, EU, Japan and Canada — and intergovernmental institutions present such as the World Bank and IMF identified existing and new programmes for financial and technical assistance. Although there were "positive indications of additional financial and technical assistance", no firm commitment was made on new financing to aid African cotton producers. Instead, members outlined areas of focus and effective use of existing delivery mechanisms for such assistance, and highlighted the need for enhanced coordination and follow-up arrangements.
ICTSD reporting; "Cotton Meeting Provides No Commitment On Aid: Further Issues Left for WTO Talks," WTO REPORTER, 30 March 2004; "African Farmers Still Resist Agricultural Subsidies," PANA, 23 March 2004; "Benin Hosts WTO Regional Workshop on Cotton," PANA, 23 March 2004.