The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has emphasized the crucial role of trade in transforming food systems in an address centred on food security at a UN summit held in Rome from 24 to 26 July.
“We cannot solve the food systems problems we face without trade. We cannot achieve the food systems transformation we need without reforming trade policy,” said Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala while addressing the summit.
The event — entitled “UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment” — was hosted by the Government of Italy, in collaboration with UN agencies, in particular the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Food Programme and the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.
Addressing a session on trade for agri-food systems transformation via a virtual connection, DG Okonjo-Iweala emphasized that open and predictable trade is an indispensable mechanism for people to access affordable food because “one in five calories consumed around the world is traded across an international border”. Furthermore, “farm trade rules and policies shape the incentives influencing production, investment and consumption decisions at the centre of the food systems transformation,” she added.
The Director-General said trade is “a key factor” in driving development and income gains for people in poor countries and in supporting better access to nutritious food, as evidenced in the decades of trade-enabled growth up until the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlighting the worsening hunger and malnutrition situation due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and other factors, DG Okonjo-Iweala drew attention to the latest data revealed by the new State of Food Security and Nutrition report: 793 million people faced hunger in 2022, and 2.4 billion people did not have year-round access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food.
The DG outlined the substantial work done by the WTO in the past two years in response to the food security crisis and to support improvements to the functioning of food and agriculture markets. She highlighted in particular the package of outcomes at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2022, which included a declaration on the emergency response to food insecurity and a decision on humanitarian food aid.
Hailing the positive impact of the MC12 outcome on the World Food Programme's (WFP) humanitarian work, she said: “The WFP recently told the WTO Committee on Agriculture that exemption from export restrictions had helped them source food from more countries and enabled faster and more localized procurement.”
She also drew attention to the landmark deal on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies, which will bolster food security, and urged governments to expedite the acceptance of the agreement for early implementation.
