World Trade Organisation members on Saturday admitted having “different views” on how to address the future of the Doha Round negotiations.
The WTO high-profile meeting which ended in Nairobi on Friday only delivered six decisions on agriculture and a few more issues of benefit to poor countries.
WTO ministers agreed on a commitment to abolish export subsidies for farm exports, which director general Roberto Azevêdo hailed as the “most significant outcome on agriculture” in the organisation’s 20-year history.
“The elimination of agricultural export subsidies is particularly significant especially for developing countries, who have consistently demanded action on this issue due to the enormous distorting potential of these subsidies for domestic production and trade,” he said on Saturday during the closing session of the five-day ministerial conference.
The meeting extended to Saturday as it required an extra day for the intensive negotiations to conclude.
The agriculture negotiations between the developed and developing countries have dragged on unsuccessfully for several years, having been included in the Doha Round when it was launched in 2001.
The objective of the negotiations is to reduce distortions in agricultural trade caused by high tariffs and subsidies.
The Nairobi package contains a legally binding decision to eliminate subsidies to support agriculture exports and prevent governments from reverting to trade, distorting export support in the future.
Under the deal, developed members committed to remove export subsidies immediately except for a handful of agriculture products, and developing countries will do so by 2018.
Developing members will keep the flexibility to cover marketing and transport costs for agriculture exports until the end of 2023, and the poorest and food-importing countries would enjoy additional time to cut export subsidies.
Ministers also adopted an agreement on public stock-holding for food security purposes, which commits members to engage constructively in finding a permanent solution on domestic food subsidies.
However, under the Bali Ministerial Decision of 2013, developing countries are allowed to continue food stockpile programmes, until a permanent solution is found by the 11th Ministerial Conference in 2017.
The developing members were further granted the right to temporarily increase tariffs if imports rise drastically by using a special safeguard mechanism.
The ministerial decision on cotton includes market access, domestic support and export competition for the Least Developed Countries.
This means that cotton from LDCs to be given duty-free and quota-free market access in the developed countries and also in the developing countries which have the capacity, starting January 2016.
The Nairobi package also includes enhanced preferential rules of origin for LDCs and preferential treatment for LDC services providers.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Cabinet secretary, Amina Mohamed, who chaired the conference, said ministers “faced challenging moments” in concluding the Nairobi Package.
“Tough calls had to be made but we did bite the bullet,” she said.