Food and agricultural trade in the new policy environment: How can WTO members support economic recovery and resilience?

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL TRADE IN THE NEW POLICY ENVIRONMENT: HOW CAN WTO MEMBERS SUPPORT ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE?

November 14, 2020

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Akademiya2063, and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture are organizing a series of virtual regional dialogues that will cover anglophone and francophone Africa, South Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The series brings together policymakers and other stakeholders to look at how policies affecting trade in food and agriculture can better deliver on food security, environmental sustainability, and other public policy goals in the current context of COVID-19 and the ongoing WTO negotiations in the run-up to the 12th ministerial conference.

Trade in food and farm goods has been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, imperiling efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition under the SDG framework. The farm sector is also under increasing pressure to respond to environmental challenges, especially climate change. With the WTO’s next ministerial conference postponed due to the pandemic and ongoing tensions between major economies, both the substance and process of talks in Geneva on updating the global trade rulebook have been affected. As governments revisit their priorities in this new context, they must engage with multiple constituencies at home and beyond to ensure that negotiating strategies reflect an inclusive vision of public policy goals — one that can contribute to recovery from the pandemic and improve resilience to future shocks.

Events

  • December 08th at 9:30am EST – English Africa panel
  • December 17th at 6:00am EST – South Asia panel

PIM is supporting this research and event series as part of its work on the Policy Environment for Value Chains under Flagship 3: Inclusive and Efficient Value Chains.

Also see:

Domestic support disciplines for the 21st century: a blueprint for the WTO Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12)

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

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