Agriculture

How Sitharaman Served Up India Instead of Using WTO High Table to Block US Agenda

25 December, 2015
Biraj Patnaik the Principal Adviser in the Office of the Supreme Court commissioners on the Right to Food narrates, how Sitharaman Served Up India Instead of Using WTO High Table to Block US Agenda.

Don't buy the spin: The WTO talks in Nairobi ended badly and India will pay a price

24 December, 2015

Don't buy the spin: The WTO talks in Nairobi ended badly and India will pay a price India's Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, invited into a select group to negotiate the final text of the Nairobi agreement, let the rich countries have their way.

Article by Biraj Patnaik and Timothy A Wise

U.S. civil society groups back India’s stand at WTO

13 December, 2015
India’s demand that the World Trade Organization (WTO) take steps, on a priority basis, to safeguard the interests of poor farmers as well as the food security programmes in developing countries has received support within the U.S.

Major Summit Could Put World's Poorest Inhabitants on Corporate Chopping Block

13 December, 2015
Last week, 453 civil society groups including trade unions, farmers, environmentalists, public interest groups and development advocates from over 150 countries wrote an urgent letter to members of the WTO to “express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO.” This is the largest number of endorsers on a letter about the WTO in the last decade and is a signal of the dire situation

India’s time to lead at the WTO

12 December, 2015

USA’s price suppression and market distortions in cotton is threatening Indian and African producers.

As we approach the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial on December 15-18 in Nairobi, India is leading a group of developing countries insisting that the development goals promised in Doha in 2001 be achieved. On the other hand, the US, European Union (EU) and Japan have called for a “recalibration” of that agenda, one that leaves agriculture largely off the table. India is right to lead the fight for reforms in developed countries’ agricultural policies.

Cotton should be at the centre of those reforms. A recent study suggests that US subsidies under the 2014 Farm Bill will continue to suppress global cotton prices. Recognising this threat, Africa’s so-called Cotton 4 (or C-4) – Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad – tabled a proposal in October calling on the US and other WTO members to make good on the longstanding commitment to address the cotton issue.

US Civil Society letter to Froman: U.S. trade policy in WTO MC10 at Nairobi should enhance countries’ rights to feed their peoples

11 December, 2015
In a letter to USTR Michael Froman, US civil society groups urged US government to support a transparent and inclusive multilateral process to resolve these pressing issues. U.S. trade policy should enhance countries’ rights to feed their peoples. It should not advance negotiations that leave most countries out of decisions that they then may have to adopt as a fait accompli at a later time.

Global Civil Society letter on the Nairobi Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO), December 9, 2015

9 December, 2015
As members of 453 civil society organizations including trade unions, environmentalists, farmers, development advocates, and public interest groups from over 150 countries, we are writing today to express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO. We urge you to take seriously the need for the upcoming Nairobi Ministerial to change existing WTO rules to make the global trading system more compatible with people-centered development, and to forestall efforts by some developed countries to abandon the development agenda and replace it with a set of so-called “new issues” that actually are non-trade issues that would impact deeply on domestic economies and constrain national policy space required for development and public interest.

SSM blocked by US, EU, Australia and Brazil

30 November, 2015
The United States, the European Union, Australia, and Brazil on Tuesday (24 November) blocked a major deliverable concerning the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for the developing countries at the World Trade Organization's tenth ministerial meeting in Nairobi beginning on December 15, several trade envoys told the SUNS.

US trying to scupper Nairobi outcome on food security

12 November, 2015
The United States, the European Union, Australia, and other countries have nearly scuppered an outcome for the proposed permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security purposes as demanded by 47 developing countries at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Nairobi next month, several trade envoys told the SUNS.

Food security: US, EU rule out permanent solution for public stock holding programmes

7 November, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for an outcome on public stockholding programmes for food security at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ministerial meeting next month in Nairobi has almost been spiked after the US, the European Union, Canada and Australia ruled out any change from the existing interim arrangement.

‘Indian and African leaders must not fail to protect interests of locals at upcoming WTO meet'

28 October, 2015
In a join civil society statement Indian and African CSOs called upon Indian and African leaders not to fail to protect interests of locals at upcoming WTO meet.

Nairobi WTO meeting to test India’s resolve on agriculture

13 October, 2015
India unlikely to secure credible gains for its millions of poor farmers unless the govt stands firm against the US over its opposition to New Delhi’s demands in agriculture

Africa and the WTO - the Perils of Weakening the Development Agenda

9 October, 2015
Biraj Patnaik and Timothy A. Wise in this article underline perils of Weakening the Development Agenda for Africa in the run up to 10th WTO Ministerial at Nairobi.

Africa needs substantial cuts in domestic subsidies of North, US told

5 October, 2015
The African Group on Monday (September 28) has told the United States that they will need substantial reduction commitments in the domestic support pillar of agriculture based on the 2008 revised draft modalities to conclude the Doha Round, African trade envoys told the SUNS.

US will deny S&D for China and India, no DDA after Nairobi

5 October, 2015
The United States intends to pursue, after the Nairobi WTO Ministerial Conference, an aggressive trade strategy by forcing "differentiation" to deny special and differential treatment for China and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO), several people familiar with the development told the SUNS.

Huge International Coalition Calls for a Big Change to WTO Agenda

10 July, 2015
Negotiations in the WTO are heating up – and they are going badly. In November last year, WTO members agreed to come up with a “Work Program” for resurrecting the Doha Round by July 31. In this article Deborah James of OWINFS network articulates civil society position on recent developments in WTO negotiations.

Canadian move for new landing zones spurned

10 July, 2015
Major developing countries - China, India, Brazil, and South Africa - unambiguously rejected on Friday (July 3), a proposal from Canada to set "new landing zones" in the Doha agriculture package without adhering to the existing mandates that were negotiated since 2001, trade envoys told the SUNS.

Nairobi MC10 must deliver on development, say CSOs

9 July, 2015
Some 341 global civil society organisations (CSOs) on Wednesday underlined that if the upcoming tenth ministerial conference (MC10) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to be held in Nairobi, Kenya is to be a "success", it must deliver on development and turn around the WTO.

341 groups from 100+ countries call on WTO Members to Abandon Liberalization Push and Turnaround WTO Agenda

8 July, 2015
Today, 341 global civil society organizations – including development advocates, trade unions, farmers’ organizations, consumer and environmental groups from over 100 countries – sent a letter to WTO members today urging them to abandon the WTO expansion talks and instead focus on an urgent agenda to fix existing damaging rules in the WTO.

US-EU block permanent solution for food security public stockholding

2 July, 2015
Major developed countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, have vehemently opposed a proposal from the G-33 coalition for a permanent solution for public stockholding programmes for food security in the developing countries, several trade envoys told SUNS.