Archive - Feb 14, 2007 - Article

Southern African countries have shown willingness to experiment with liberalising the agriculture sector, but food security experts feel that some form of government intervention is still required to prevent hunger in the region.

Developing countries welcomed, at a WTO General Council meeting on 7 February the full resumption of multilateral negotiations on the Doha Work Programme and stressed on a multilateral process that fully observed the principles of transparency and inclusiveness in achieving an outcome.

Developing countries Wednesday welcomed the 'full resumption of multilateral negotiations' in Geneva on the Doha work programme and development agenda, and made clear that 'any outcome must be the product of a multilateral process that is inclusive and transparent.'

At a meeting of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services at the WTO on Friday 2 February, WTO members reiterated that services is central to the 'triangle' of issues on market access in agriculture and NAMA negotiations.

This publication is an initial report on the spread of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) throughout the Asia-Pacific and their impacts on agriculture and food sovereignty, in the context of the current state of play of the WTO, and the devastating legacy of agricultural liberalisation through World Bank/International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programmes.