ECO-IDB-FAO Workshop Trade, Competitiveness and WTO

ECO Secretariat, Tehran, 10 July 2006

 

Press Release

     

         

1.         The ECO-IDB-FAO Workshop on Trade, Competitiveness and WTO was held on 26-28 June 2006 in Antalya, Turkey. The workshop was hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Turkey.  The experts from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey and Republic of Uzbekistan participated in the Workshop along with officials of the ECO Secretariat. Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) financially supported the workshop while FAO has provided valuable training materials.  

 

2.         The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Ahmet Bayaner, Head of Department of Agricultural Policies, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. In his statement he defined the WTO as an organization for liberalizing trade. WTO is a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements and to settle trade disputes. He also highlighted the main principles of trading systems by WTO. He also stressed on the need for member countries to concentrate on new areas of competitiveness such as organic agriculture.

 

3.         Mr. Fatih Unlu, Director, ECO Secretariat also delivered a statement on behalf of H.E. Mr. Askhat Orazbay, ECO Secretary General. Mr. UNLU while indicating WTO was established in 1995 as a continuation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) said that out of ten ECO member states, three (Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Turkey) are members of WTO while others, except Turkmenistan have observer status in WTO.  The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) is most controversial issue at the WTO because agriculture is still the primary source of livelihood for roughly half of humanity. The AoA has mainly three concepts: domestic support; market access; and export subsidies and the agreement lays out rules to dismantle barriers to trade by reducing tariffs and public expenditures on agriculture.

 

4.         After the inaugural session, several presentations were made on various subjects like WTO Structure and Secretariat, economics and politics of agricultural subsidies and Benin and Cotton: A Case Study, WTO and ECO Regional Trade, Agreement on Agriculture (General Framework), Multilateral Trade Negotiations on Agriculture (Domestic Support, Export Competition, Market Access), WTO and Trade Negotiations on Agriculture (Affects to World Agricultural Trade and Turkey case study), country experiences etc.

 

5.         During deliberations the Workshop recommended among others the following:

  • Technical cooperation among ECO member countries on WTO related matters should be enhanced. Especially preparation for negotiations on agriculture is a major area for cooperation as there are 6 ECO member countries negotiating for WTO membership, and a new agreement is underway on agriculture.    

  • More consultations can be made among the ECO member countries WTO Agreement on Agriculture. ECO as a ten member countries economic block may adopt common negotiating strategy on WTO so that they can represent themselves more efficiently and effectively. Within this framework ECO countries could make collaboration to define ECO region’s priorities on WTO trade negotiations.

  • Efforts may be made for enhancing technical cooperation and interaction among member states with regard to the WTO Agro Trade Committees.

  • Maximum efforts may be made for implementation of ECO Trade Agreement on fast track policy basis. The negative list in ECOTA on agricultural commodities may also be minimized in order to increase regional agro-trade.

 

6.         The Workshop ended with a field trip to seed and seedling companies and soilless tomato culture plant and a social programme.

             

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