15th December 2005

Hong Kong Trade and Development Symposium Session 4.4: Linking Local Needs To Global Trade Rules: Flexibility Tools for Poverty Reduction, Food Security and Rural Development


Most of the world’s malnourished populations are located in least-developed countries in Africa and South Asia. However, despite adequate food supplies on a global level, the capacity to produce food is very uneven across the world. In fact, even some countries that are self-sufficient in food may be grappling with significant malnourishment among the poor, which lack the purchasing power to buy food in the market. Indeed, the needs and potential of poor subsistence farmers are often overlooked or ignored. The failure to increase production and access to food supplies for the most vulnerable segments of the population diminishes any prospect of long-term global food security.

On 31 July 2004 WTO Members agreed to a framework that forms the basis for the negotiations of full agricultural. The framework is embodied in the 1 August General Council Decision (WT/L/ 579).

According to Paragraph 41 of the Decision, developing countries will have the flexibility to designate an appropriate number of agricultural crops and livestock products as Special Products (previously also referred to as strategic products) based on three criteria:

1. Food security (i.e. contribution of a product to calories, protein and fat in the diet),

2. Livelihood security (i.e. farm income and farm employment), and

3. Rural development (i.e. contribution of crops / products to the Gross Domestic Product and economic forward linkages)

In addition, Paragraph 42 of the August Decision states that a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) will be established for use by developing countries. The SSM will be used as a mechanism to protect against import surges, and the details were left to be developed in the next phase of the negotiations. Special Products are set to provide effective protection for poor farmers, yet negotiations on the issue have been slow and no further details were agreed in July 2005.

Agenda

Chair: Ricardo Melendez-Ortiz, Executive Director, ICTSD

Introduction

The State of Global Food Insecurity by Harmon Thomas, Chief, Commodity Policy &. Protection Service, FAO

Discussant: Duncan Green, Head of Research, Oxfam

Linking Local Needs To Global Trade Rules: Policy Coherence in WTO Negotiations in Agriculture (SP/SSM) by Maria F.M. Alberto-Chau Huu, Senior Agriculture Attaché, Permanent Mission of the Philippines and Anne Kamau, First Sectretary, Permanent Mission of Kenya, Geneva

Questions and answer

Organisers

ICTSD: The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) was established in Geneva in September 1996 to contribute to a better understanding of development and environment concerns in the context of international trade. As an independent non-profit and non-governmental organisation, ICTSD engages a broad range of actors in ongoing dialogue about trade and sustainable development. With a wide network of governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental partners, ICTSD plays a unique systemic role as a provider of original, non-partisan reporting and facilitation services at the intersection of international trade and sustainable development.

IDS Pakistan

OXFAM