G-33 to defend interests of developing countries

The Group of 33 today agreed to enhance cooperation with other developing-country groupings such as the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), least developing countries (LDCs), the Africa Group and the Group of 20 to defend the interests of developing nations in agriculture.

G-33 is an alliance of developing countries on special products (SP) and a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) in agriculture. Special products are those products in agriculture with either minimal or no tariff reduction commitments, while SSM is a safeguard against import surges.

The alliance met in Dalian, China, ahead of the WTO mini-ministerial. It underlined the importance of the SP and SSM provisions in the current Doha round of negotiations to safeguard food security, livelihood and rural development needs of farmers in developing countries.

The meeting chaired by Indonesia and attended by Kenya, Zambia, Barbados, Jamaica, Benin, South Korea, Pakistan and India reiterated the political commitment of the G-33 to work for the operationalisation of SPs and SSM based on these three criteria.

They have instructed their negotiators to further intensify technical work on the operational indicators in this regard. G-33 ministers urged that the concerns of developing countries regarding de minimis support be removed because it is a primary component of policies that addresses food security, livelihood and rural development needs of developing countries.

Meanwhile, the European Union and the US have expressed support for the G-20 proposal on market access in agriculture in the ongoing Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations.

"We are willing to develop the structure of an 'agriculture market access formula' using the G-20 proposal as a starting point," said Marianne Boll Fischer, EU agriculture commissioner.

He was addressing the informal WTO meeting called the mini-ministerial on Tuesday evening.

The US, a votary of the Swiss formula, which had been strongly opposed by the G-20 and the developing countries, conceded that the G-20 proposal was a "positive contribution".