While there is global consensus that sustainable agriculture is the future, the role of trade and trade rules needs to be fully explored and channeled as an enabling one. This was highlighted during a webinar organized by the FAO Liaison offices of Geneva and Brussels, on 17^th September 2020. A recording of the session online is found here.

The webinar also marked the launch of a technical paper titled “Policy Space for Sustainable Agriculture in the in WTO Agreement on Agriculture”.

The session was moderated by Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Director the FAO Liaison Office Geneva while Mr. Rodrigo de Lapuerta, Director of the FAO Liaison Office Brussels welcomed the participants and delivered opening remarks.

Speakers included, Mr. Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit at the European Commission, Directorate-General (DG) for International Cooperation and Development - Rural development, food security; Ambassador Gothami Silva, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, to the WTO, Geneva; Ms. Darya Antonova, Head of International Legal Support, AGROEXPORT Russia; Mr. Daniel Arboleda, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Colombia to the WTO Geneva; and Mr. Ahmad Mukhtar, Economist, FAO Liaison Office, Geneva.

The presentations and discussions revolved around an agreement on the importance of sustainable agriculture as the way forward, however, the role of trade and in particular trade rules and the WTO Agreements saw different perceptions. It was noted that while there is  policy space in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture to provide unlimited subsidies under the Green Box and Development Box, the limited fiscal space in many countries is a practical issue. Some participants highlighted that the mere volume of subsides under the Green and Development Boxes may prove to be trade-distorting in the longer run, as opposed to the stated objective of no or minimal trade distortion.

The webinar and FAO’s technical paper on this subject were appreciated and termed as a very timely contribution to the debate, particularly feeding into the build-up of the Food Systems Summit 2021. FAO assured participants of its continued technical support on this topic.