Agriculture ministers commit to global trade rules

The Agriculture Ministers’ Conference agreed on the following objectives:

• global rules for global markets, strengthening of the WTO, bilateral free trade agreements as a contribution to the opening up of markets, reduction of market-distorting support measures;
• strengthening of local, regional and global value chains and promotion of agricultural trade; equitable distribution of welfare gains across all countries and social strata;
• promotion of technical and organisational innovations, e.g. in the field of digitalisation, to increase efficiency and to make the food and agricultural sectors attractive to a new generation of farmers;
• support for smallholders in the form of micro-credits and facilitation of their engagement in cooperatives in order to better integrate them into markets;
• granting of more rights to women and facilitation of their access to markets in order to effectively lift numerous families out of poverty;
• continuation of environmental measures and compliance with international climate agreements; and
• introduction of global standards for sustainable agriculture.

“Without trade, there will be no global food security,” commented German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Julia Klöckner. “we must foster trade und work hand in hand to ensure that the special concerns of agriculture are taken into account. Farmers, including smallholders, must be winners in trade. This requires fairness and transparency. We must ensure that all people benefit from trade, and not just a minority, so that everyone has access to food. Global trade requires global rules and reliable, value-based standards.”

The joint communiqué was presented to Aidarbek Saparov, Vice-Minister of Kazakhstan, who will be hosting the next WTO Ministerial Conference, Alan Wolff, Deputy Director-General of the WTO and Dr Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the FAO. The conference took place as part of the German ministry's Global Forum for Food and Agriculture entitled “Food for all! Trade for Secure, Diverse and Sustainable Nutrition”. During the event, the concept of an International Digital Council was also discussed. The FAO has been called upon to implement this concept. The aim is for the Digital Council to advise states on issues of digitalisation and to drive the exchange of ideas and experiences.