International Call for A Timely and Ambitious WTO
Agreement on Agriculture

With this declaration, the undersigned organizations representing agriculture and food producers, processors, distributors, retailers and consumers from 15 countries, issue a call to WTO members to commit to an ambitious work plan in order to reach a comprehensive agreement on agriculture for the 6th meeting of WTO Ministers.

Trade in agriculture and food products accounts for 9% of global merchandise trade, ahead of mining products, automotive products, chemicals, textiles and clothing, or iron and steel. For many countries around the world, trade is critical, to ensure access to international markets and to provide for imports that serve as inputs to produce value-added products. Yet international trade in agriculture and food products is highly distorted by tariffs and non-tariff barriers and by trade distorting export and domestic subsidies. Tariffs applied to agriculture and food products around the world average over 60% and developed countries spend more than $US 300 billion annually to subsidize agriculture. This has had a serious effect on the incomes of food producers who must rely on international prices, and on the ability of the world’s developing nations to capture the benefits of participation in international markets.

The framework for agreement developed in July 2004, together with the mandate for negotiations established in Doha, should guide negotiators towards an agreement that substantially reduces barriers to access, eliminates export subsidies and makes substantial reductions to trade distorting support.

Specifically, we urge negotiators, keeping in mind the level of ambition established in the Doha Mandate, to build on the framework in the following ways:

1. Build on the commitment to reduce trade distorting domestic support by agreeing to deep cuts to overall trade distorting support starting at the levels remaining after the down payment prescribed by the framework is made.
2. Commit to an early date for the elimination of all forms of export subsidies.
3. Commit to real and meaningful expansions in global market access for all products, including those which may be designated as “sensitive”, through deep and harmonizing cuts to all tariffs and substantial expansion of minimum access requirements, on a global and reciprocal basis.
4. Commit to special and differential treatment for developing countries that allows them to fully participate in world trade, based on common WTO rules, but that also provides the flexibility they require to reach their full competitive potential.
5. Ensure that rules in the Agriculture agreement, and in other agreements such as Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Sanitary and PhytoSanitary (SPS); and Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) are based on sound, internationally recognized science — to ensure that they do not serve as unjustified non-tariff barriers to trade in agriculture and food.

The benefits of liberalization have been identified by research bodies and academics around the world More open trade will not only benefit the vast majority of the world’s producers, consuming industries and consumers, it will also bring wealth to the world’s poor countries. Increased wealth means higher living standards, better health and higher labour and environmental standards globally. WTO member countries and their negotiators have an opportunity and a responsibility to negotiate seriously and in a timely fashion to fundamentally reform international trade, for developed and developing countries alike.