'High Level Session' on cotton at WTO in Geneva

17 Mar '07

3 min read

While participants differ on some of the details, they agree that cotton needs a breakthrough in the Doha Round negotiations, and that more is needed to remove blockages on development assistance, Director-General Pascal Lamy said on 16 March 2007.

He was speaking at the end of a day-and-a-half “High Level Session” on cotton at the WTO in Geneva, attended by ministers and senior officials from WTO members — including African cotton producing countries and donor governments — and international organizations.

The meeting came under the director-general's mandate “to consult with the relevant international organizations … to direct effectively existing programmes and any additional resources towards development of the economies where cotton has vital importance”, under the 1 August 2004 framework agreement on Doha Round issues. Since then consultations have been held regularly, but this was the first organized specially at a higher level.

The meeting discussed: available data on development assistance given for cotton or to cotton-producing countries; recipients' and donors' assessments of the assistance; price trends and fluctuations and how to deal with them; the trade negotiations on cotton; and adjustments in cotton-producing countries.

One key task undertaken by the WTO Secretariat itself is a compilation of development assistance — the latest version is in document WT/L/670, which lists direct and indirect aid for cotton totalling $6.85bn.

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