Africans call for written response to cotton proposal

02 Jul '05

3 min read

The US replied that the outcome in cotton will be determined by the agriculture negotiations, where it said reductions in specific areas such as domestic support will affect US programmes for cotton.

But in order to achieve a significant result overall in cotton, members should be more ambitious in the agriculture negotiations as a whole, the US said. A higher level of ambition in agriculture could mean a result on cotton that is closer to the Africans' aims, the US said.

Development issues
The International Monetary Fund, an observer, outlined the result of a conference on cotton in Cotonou, Benin, 18 May 2005. Conference participants agreed on a “four-pronged response” to the surge in cotton production and decline in prices, the IMF said:

(1) To preserve macroeconomic stability by tackling poverty directly instead of supporting prices in order to avoid adjustment;
(2) Using development programmes to increase production efficiency and competitiveness;
(3) Eliminating distorting export and domestic subsidies in developed countries; and
(4) Protecting the poor during adjustment.

In a statement that is to be circulated in writing, the US said that in addition to trade reform and the need to increase African producers' productivity, efforts should be made to boost flagging demand for cotton products (which is partly alleviated by increased demand in China), and that an ambitious result overall in agriculture wouldyield better results than focusing more narrowly on cotton.