WTO Director-General Discusses Need for New Rules to Address Global Food Market Challenges
The World Trade Organization needs to "update the WTO rulebook" if its members are to address the issues plaguing global food markets, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at an Oct. 24 retreat on trade and agriculture, the WTO said. The retreat included two plenary sessions at which farm trade and food security experts discussed the challenges facing the agriculture sector and subsequent policy responses. In her opening remarks, Okonjo-Iweala noted that trade distortions and protectionism "remain a major problem," with "persistent under-investment in research, infrastructure and other public goods" leading to stagnating agricultural productivity. Okonjo-Iweala said items including "public stockholding for food security purposes, market access, cotton, a proposed special safeguard mechanism and improving transparency remain outstanding in the farm trade negotiations."
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“We need to draw on the expertise of our resource persons -- and brainstorm on what their knowledge and insights could mean for the design of future WTO rules,” the director-general said. “The WTO needs to do its part to drive progress towards the SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals), in particular the SDG on ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. The WTO needs to factor people into its agreements and negotiations.”