At a committee meeting , WTO farm negotiators reflected on the outcomes on food and agriculture achieved at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) and discussed how to build on the momentum to revitalise the agriculture negotiations.
The meeting was held on July 23rd.
The outgoing chair of the negotiations, Gloria Abraham Peralta (Costa Rica), stressed the importance of capitalizing on the work done and called on members to explore new approaches that could reset the negotiations in the coming months
Delegates took the floor to pay tribute to Ambassador Abraham Peralta for her leadership, dedication and hard work over the last two years. They also praised her contributions to the important milestones achieved at MC12 - the adoption of the declaration on the emergency response to food insecurity and the decision on the exemption of UN's World Food Program food purchase from export prohibitions or restrictions.
The chair began by highlighting members' collective achievements at the June ministerial meeting. "MC12 was a great success for the WTO. It demonstrated the ability of the WTO to deliver results for people across the world," she told the meeting. At the same time, the absence of an outcome in the agriculture negotiations at MC12 accentuates the fact that "considerable work remains to be done."
Ambassador Abraham Peralta looked back at the committee's work since she began chairing the negotiations in July 2020. "These two years have been enriching and rewarding," she said.
During that period, members have worked intensively, putting forward 40 written submissions and holding close to 130 meetings. The chair also put forward draft negotiating texts for members to consider in July 2021, November 2021 and June 2022 - the first such attempts to do so in over a decade.
She also told trade officials at the meeting not to throw away the good work they had done, but to build on it going forward. “There is a goldmine of ideas," she told delegates, urging them to draw inspiration from the past as they seek to overcome obstacles and move forward.