Africans call for written response to cotton proposal

02 Jul '05

3 min read

African countries called for written responses or alternatives to their own proposal at the 22 June 2005 Cotton Sub-Committee meeting but some other members said more ambition in the agriculture negotiations would be the major contributor to a substantial outcome on cotton.

In a meeting that covered both trade and development issues related to cotton, Chairperson Tim Groser also outlined his assessment of the agriculture negotiations. He said members should study carefully his forthcoming paper on the negotiations, to be circulated before his end-of-July “first approximation of full modalities” (the “full modalities” in turn due to be approved at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005).

Trade issues
African countries said they were disappointed that no other members have produced written responses or alternative proposals to their paper, circulated just before the last meeting in April.

Some other countries said they preferred not to respond immediately in writing, either to allow them to be flexible in the positions they adopt, or because they believe an informal setting would be more conducive to technical exchanges on the paper.

Chairperson Tim Groser agreed, and said he might hold a consultation soon. This would be best done at a time when participants can assess the implications for cotton arising from developments in various areas of the agriculture negotiations as a whole, he indicated.

The call for written responses came from Benin, Burkina Faso and several other African delegations, supported by Brazil and Argentina. These delegations said this would help them to report to their governments that there have been new developments.