Little change for dairy in free trade deal

“Fonterra thanks Minister Todd McClay, lead negotiator David Walker, Vangelis Vitalis and the entire New Zealand negotiating team at Nairobi for their efforts in contributing to the outcome”.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of WTO, and also the first ministerial meeting held on the African continent.

The WTO’s 163 members agreed on the weekend, in an historic ministerial meeting in Kenya, to abolish all government subsidies to farmers, saying subsidies have a distortionary effect in global need and they need to be removed.

This explains why trading nations that are alarmed by this development – like Australia – have abandoned the diplomatic conceit of most big global economic gatherings and apparently called time on Doha.

Developed country members have committed to remove export subsidies immediately for basic food products, with a slower phase-out schedule for all processed foods, pigmeat and dairy products.

Consumers and whistle-blowers will be able to report traders selling counterfeit products during this festive season using a toll free line which the Uganda National Bureau of standard has established…

McClay said there were some important issues that needed more work, with a range of views on the Doha development round. Decisions were also made regarding preferential treatment for least developed countries (LDCs) in the area of services and the criteria for determining whether exports from LDCs may benefit from trade preferences.

USA trade representative Michael Froman also said the deal would “put an end to some of the most trade distorting subsidies” and “help level the playing field for American farmers and ranchers”.

“There is a strong commitment on the part of all WTO members to advance negotiations on the remaining Doha issues, including agriculture”, he said.

The disappointment of India is understandable as developed nations such as the U.S. want to move away from the Doha issues.

Developing members will keep the flexibility to cover marketing and transport costs for agriculture exports until the end of 2023, and the poorest and food-importing countries would enjoy additional time to cut export subsidies. Declaration Further, the draft declaration also provides a Ministerial affirmation that till such time a permanent solution on public stockholding is found, the peace clause shall continue to be in place.

“It’s a major achievement to at last extend that principle to agriculture”. The negotiations “started a new phase in the WTO’s evolution” and showed “what is possible when the multilateral trading system comes together to solve a problem”.

The Ministers also reaffirmed “the pre-eminence of the WTO as the global forum for trade rules setting and governance”.

Wang Shouwen, a deputy minister from China’s Ministry of Commerce, says farm export subsidies have been a prime focus for developing countries.

“We acknowledge that worldwide trade can play a role towards achieving sustainable, robust and balanced growth for all”.