G-33 Ministerial Statement on Agriculture Trade Negotiations at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference G-33 Ministerial Meeting, Abu Dhabi, 25 February 2024

G-33 Ministerial Statement on Agriculture Trade Negotiations at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference G-33 Ministerial Meeting, Abu Dhabi, 25 February 2024

Subject: IR

Section: Int Organisation

Context: 

• Ministers and Representatives of the G-33 Members, met in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, on 25 February 2024, on the sideline of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference.

More on news:

• The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference aimed to exchange views on the state of play of the WTO agriculture trade negotiations, and to deliberate the Group’s priorities on the outcome and the way forward.

Key Outcomes:

• Emphasis was made on the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference which provides an important opportunity to reinforce a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable, and transparent multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core.
• The vast majority of the G-33 Members recognize the critical importance of public stockholding for food security purposes for developing country Members, including LDCs and NFIDCs, in meeting our food and livelihood security, as well as our rural development imperative, including supporting low income or resource poor producers.

About World Trade Organization (WTO)

• The WTO is an intergovernmental organization that is concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations.
• The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994.
• It replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.
• It is the largest international economic organization in the world.

Functions of WTO

• The WTO deals with the regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries.
• It provides a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants’ adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.

Principles of WTO:

Five principles are of particular importance in understanding both the pre-1994 GATT and the WTO:

• Non-discrimination:
  • It has two major components: the most favored nation (MFN) rule and the national treatment policy.
  • The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members.
  • National treatment means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than domestically produced goods.
• Reciprocity:
  • It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets.
• Binding and enforceable commitments:
  • The tariff commitments made by WTO members in multilateral trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions.
  • These schedules establish “ceiling bindings”: a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners.
• Transparency:
  • The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO.
• Safety values:
  • In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade.
  • The WTO’s agreements permit members to take measures to protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health.