WTO Ag Talks Aim for Comprehensive Reform Package Ahead of MC14
The chair of the World Trade Organization's agriculture negotiations, Turkey's Alparslan Acarsoy, urged members at the group's Dec. 4 meeting to “swiftly resume substantive talks” in 2025, the WTO said. At the meeting, the African Group and the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries said they made progress in their bilateral discussions, which aim to present a “comprehensive package of modalities for agriculture reform” before the 14th Ministerial Conference.
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MC14 is scheduled to take place in March 2026.
The African and Cairns groups said they held technical talks on “domestic support for the agricultural sector, including on key elements.” The elements included:
- How to cap trade-distorting support
- How to address the maximum level of trade-distorting support bound in some members’ schedules to help level the playing field
- How to design and implement reductions
- How to establish new flexibilities for non-exporters that wish to provide support for specific products
- Disciplines on the use of the “green box,” a category of support deemed to cause no more than minimal trade distortions
- How to limit the concentration of support for cotton.
The groups are still discussing issues faced by developing countries regarding food purchases at “government-set prices for public stocks for food security purposes,” the WTO said.
In addition to the bilateral talks, Guyana submitted a new proposal on a way toward achieving progress ahead of MC14, which centers on “prioritizing text-based negotiations.” The proposal places special emphasis on food bought at administered prices for public stocks, a proposed new special safeguard mechanism and cotton. Guyana called specifically for the chair of the talks to draft texts on other topics, including “market access, domestic support, and export-related matters, using members’ proposals as a basis to facilitate negotiations.”