The coordinator’s report focused on four areas: access to international food markets; financing of food imports; agricultural and production resilience of least-developed and net food-importing developing countries (LDCs and NFIDCs); and horizontal issues. Several members expressed support for the report and its recommendations, highlighting its “balanced nature” and describing it as a strong foundation for reaching an agreement. Some other members considered that the report lacked sufficient emphasis on flexibilities for developing economies to address the immediate and short-term concerns arising from the food crisis.
As in previous meetings, the scope of the group’s work was raised, with some members believing that the group should examine all issues relating to food security challenges raised in the discussions and should not be prevented from proposing appropriate actions and recommendations, including to other bodies. Other members underlined that the scope of recommendations from the working group should be aligned to the work of the WTO and the mandate of the Committee on Agriculture in particular. It was also suggested that the report should acknowledge the entire discussion held in the working group since its inception in the form of a factual summary.
Feedback on written submissions
Members considered two written submissions received from Egypt and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, which contain several specific suggestions for discussion and possible recommendations by the working group. The submission by Egypt was recently co-sponsored by Pakistan.
Egypt and Pakistan noted that their written contribution should be seen as a complement to the July report by the coordinator. The submission specifically highlights areas where the authors believe that additional flexibilities are required by LDCs and NFIDCs in order to address the food security challenges and their vulnerabilities.
The ACP Group’s submission focused, among other things, on global and regional supply chain bottlenecks, the implication of trade measures on food access, availability of finance and financing instruments, adequacy of global food stocks, and the need for technical and financial assistance to boost agricultural productivity and resilience.
Suggestions dealing with enhanced transparency and improved notification practices received support from several members. On the role of WTO flexibilities, some members considered that robust agricultural infrastructure, public services, access to high-quality seeds and technology play a pivotal role in enhancing productivity and resilience. The importance of collaboration with relevant international organizations was also highlighted. A few members also highlighted that the coordinator’s report and the two written submissions provide a good basis for the future work of the working group.
Proposal for a workshop
The Republic of Korea underscored the importance of seed development and suggested hosting a second workshop in October/November on this topic. The workshop would provide an opportunity to learn from the experiences of seed companies and would allow members and international organizations to present specific projects. This proposal received support from a number of members.
Next steps
Mr Tysdal said he will revise the coordinator’s report, taking into account the discussions at the meeting. He also invited members to reflect on how the food security work programme and the associated recommendations, once agreed, could feed into higher-level WTO processes and food security discussions at the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference in February 2024. He will share his future plans with the Committee on Agriculture at its meeting on 27-28 September.
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