Harbinson circulates his report
Stuart Harbinson, the Chair of the Negotiations on Agriculture, circulated on July 7th 2003, an-own initiative report on the issues faced in determining the modalities for agricultural liberalisation. It includes a factual review of work carried out by the Committee on Agriculture to date and a section highlighting in a non-exhaustive manner key issues and questions which participants need to address urgently. These include: the modalities to be employed for reducing tariffs; the means for improving market access; rule-related issues, such as tariff-quota administration; special safeguard measures; special and differential treatment; the formula to be used for the phasing-out of export refunds; the development of disciplines on export credits; the development of disciplines on food aid; the development of disciplines for the operations of state-trading enterprises; the modalities for regulating domestic support; the extent of flexibility for recently acceded members; the extent of flexibility for other groupings such as small-island developing states and other vulnerable groups of developing countries and economies in transition; the future of the 'peace clause'. Comment: The extent of issues still to be resolved and the orientations of major players like the EU suggest that many of the substantive agricultural issues of concern to ACP countries (most notably the trade-distorting effects of direct aid programmes, the erosion of the value of preferences resulting from CAP reform, and the obstacles to trade created by increasingly strict SPS measures) will not be effectively addressed under the new round.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2003
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52494 http://agritrade.cta.int/Back-issues/Agriculture-monthly-news-update/2003/August-2003 |
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