Brussels, 06/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - Meeting with the trade ministers from two of the C4 cotton-producing countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad), Mamadou Sanou of Burkina Faso and Fatoumata Nene Sy of Mali on Wednesday 6 February in Brussels, Peter Mandelson reiterated the EU's support for differential treatment for cotton in the Doha Round multilateral trade negotiations. “The needs and interests of developing countries are at the heart of the Doha Round. Cotton is a development priority. We have demonstrated with the economic partnership agreements that it is possible to bring trade and development together. We need to achieve the same at Doha. That is why the EU has always argued for exceptional treatment for cotton in the Doha agenda”, the European trade commissioner said after the meeting.
At the ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December 2005 (EUROPE 9093), the African cotton-producing countries, under the C4 banner, long threatened to torpedo the agreement on the compromise text (of the time) on trade liberalisation methods (a new, revised version is due to be released this week in Geneva, EUROPE 9589). They subsequently accepted it after obtaining, at the moment of the implementation of the overall agreement, the elimination of export subsidies for cotton used by rich countries and market access without customs duties or quotas. However, they did not obtain any clear provisions on the gradual elimination by 2010 of the internal supports for cotton which are the most damaging to African producers, with the USA proving particularly reluctant to commit to it.
EU cotton production represents just 2% of world production. The trade in cotton is completely free in the EU, which is a net cotton importer: no entry duties or quantitative restrictions apply at the borders and no export refunds are paid to European producers. The cotton sector in the C4 countries employs almost 2 million people and 15 million people are indirectly dependent on cotton production and export for their living. In the C4 countries cotton accounts for between 50% and 80% of exports.
For this reason the EU has adopted a clear position in the Doha negotiations in favour of fair global competition. In the EU view, exceptional treatment for cotton should be achieved through: - the elimination of all forms of export subsidies for cotton in all the developed countries; - access without duties or quotas to the markets of rich countries and developing countries which are in a position to allow it for imports of cotton from less advanced countries (LACs). This was agreed in the development package negotiated in Hong Kong; - a substantial reduction in internal support from rich countries which create trade distortions. Since 2006, 65% of EU support for European cotton producers has been decoupled from production. The remainders of EU support has been moved from the “amber box” (support which creates the biggest distortions) to the “blue box” (support which has a negligible effect on trade).
As part of the implementation of the EU/Africa partnership on cotton, the EU has also allocated more than €260 million to programmes and projects in the C4 countries since 2004. (E.H.)