South Centre Analytical Note - July 2003

INTRODUCTION

According to Art. 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) the reform process should continue through new negotiations which started in the year 2000. Although progress has been achieved in understanding the positions and concerns of members, no concrete result can be presented so far. Significant differences among members on fundamental aspects of the negotiations and the lack of engagement on the part of the EU until internal policy reform was achieved in late June 2003 made impossible for members to agree on modalities by the date stipulated in the Doha Declaration. Moreover, attempts by the EU and the US to revise downwards the level of ambition envisaged in the Doha Declaration by presenting in mid-August a joint proposal for a ‘framework’ – instead of modalities – which would have preserved high levels of subsidies, further compromised any progress on agriculture and paved the way for the disappointing results of the Fifth Ministerial Conference (Cancún, Mexico, 10 to 14 September 2003). All of this may imply that the conclusion of negotiations on agriculture will most likely be delayed beyond the date established in the Doha Ministerial Declaration for the completion of all the negotiations on 1 January 2005.

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