Ahead of the eleventh WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on 10-13 December, the EU is putting pressure on its partners by presenting them at an informal preparatory ministerial meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 October with proposals in six areas of work, including a proposal to collaborate with Brazil, along with a political commitment from agricultural exporting countries in the Cairns group on reform of domestic supports to the agricultural sector.
In Marrakech, the EU challenged its WTO partners, headed by the United States and India, to take action for substantial results at the Buenos Aires conference in key negotiating domains, particularly agricultural trade.
"The time for ambition is now. The multilateral forum remains the best way to deal with international trade issues and the EU continues to strongly support the work of the WTO. If we want to have a positive outcome in Buenos Aires in December, then we need to focus and pick up the pace. The EU has put forward several proposals on critical issues that today's trade policy must address. We hope and expect that other WTO members will engage constructively," said EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrôm in a statement. She explained, that trade policy now needs to address a number of key issues and she was expecting the other WTO members to engage constructively in this.
The EU has made text proposals in six areas of work, starting with a common proposal with Brazil (unveiled in July) on limiting subsidies that create an uneven playing field out of proportion to agricultural production (see EUROPE 11831). Their proposal aims to strike a better-calibrated balance, including a substantial development dimension and excluding the less developed nations from new discipline. It also addresses the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes, something India holds dear.
On Monday, the EU and agricultural exporting countries from the Cairns Group (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Uruguay and Vietnam) issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to tackling the most trade distorting domestic support in agriculture. This joint declaration is an important step towards a solution that limits market distortions and ensures a global level-playing field for farmers, whilst taking into account the particular needs of developing countries.
The EU has tabled proposals on fisheries subsidies, domestic regulation in services, e-commerce, on enhancing transparency for the benefit of SMEs as well as on horizontal subsidies. In addition, the EU is supportive of further discussion on investment facilitation in the WTO.
On Monday, the European Commission announced that the European Union is once again contributing €100,000 to support the participation of least-developed countries at the conference in Buenos Aires. This will ensure that all voices are represented, regardless of economic status. The EU has donated approximately €20 million to WTO trust funds over the last 15 years, in addition to significant contributions made by individual EU member states.
Finally, on 6 October, the EU adopted the final formal measure required to implement decisions taken at the WTO conference in Nairobi in 2015 on eliminating export subsidies for agricultural products (see EUROPE 11458), when it presented to the WTO its revised list of goods which, in addition to confirming its commitment to reducing export subsidies, includes the results of other recent negotiations, such as those relating to EU enlargement. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)