The second phase of the workshop will involve a week of in-person training in Geneva in September 2024. This two-phase approach is being taken following the positive feedback received from participants in the 2022-23 notification workshop, which incorporated a virtual phase for the first time, primarily in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
AGCD first launched the notification training programme in 2009. To date, it has provided training to government officials from more than 130 economies.
Speaking at the workshop’s opening ceremony, Edwini Kessie, Director of AGCD, and Claude Trolliet, Chief of Section of the ITTC, highlighted the critical role of transparency regarding WTO members’ trade measures. They urged participants to make good use of the information provided during the course in order to better meet their countries’ transparency obligations.
Notifications are an important transparency tool required by the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). Since the adoption of the AoA, the WTO has received more than 6,200 notifications. This year alone, the Secretariat has already received 343 agriculture notifications. Despite these high figures, almost 2,000 notifications are still pending.
The online workshop combined presentations by experts from AGCD with practical exercises and case studies. The aim is to build the capacity of government officials to implement their countries’ notification obligations under the AoA and to participate in the review of notifications within the WTO Committee on Agriculture.
Noting the common challenges faced by many developing members, the workshop focused on notification requirements in the domain of agricultural subsidies, including the transparency requirements stemming from the Nairobi Decision on export competition. Participants learned, in particular, the steps involved in making notifications on domestic support using the on-line agriculture notification system .
In the closing ceremony, Diwakar Dixit, Secretary of the Committee on Agriculture, said the workshop marks the start of a year-long interaction between participants and the Secretariat. He encouraged them to seize the opportunity to achieve tangible progress in improving agricultural transparency.
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