Manila is optimistic that members of the World Trade Organization will reach a consensus agreement on key agricultural issues, such as public stockholding and special safeguard mechanism , by next year.
The MC is the WTO’s highest policy making body wherein trade ministers from all the 164 member-countries meet biennially to negotiate on matters affecting global trade multilaterally. “In other words, there is an acceptance now that those are important and we will put these as an agenda in this Ministerial Conference which means there will be a lot of discussions along the way before the 13th Ministerial Conference happens.”
The Philippine delegation went to Geneva two weeks ago and has taken a tough stance on the need for forge an agreement that would curtail domestic support that are “distorting” trade and food production as well as a permanent solution on PSH and a development of an “effective” SSMHowever, MC12 ended without an adopted declaration or a decision on agriculture. The 164 members of the WTO did not achieve a consensus agreement on a draft ministerial decision on agriculture negotiations.
However, Okonjo-Iweala noted that it doesn’t mean that the agriculture negotiations have been abandoned altogether due to lack of an adopted work program or decision.
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