Chair reports 'incremental progress' as farm talks continue

04 Jun '08

2 min read

Negotiators in the WTO agriculture talks have clarified some points and shown they are willing to work among themselves to sort out more of their differences, Ambassador Crawford Falconer reported to a meeting of the full membership on 3 June 2008.

The progress has been “incremental” and he will call another meeting in the week of 9 June, giving delegations time to consult among themselves and bring the results to the negotiation, he said. (The objective now is to sort out technical differences and simplify political options as members prepare for upcoming negotiations combining agriculture with non-agricultural market access and other subjects.)

This meeting:
This was an informal agriculture negotiations meeting of the full membership, officially an “Informal Open-Ended Special Session” of the Agriculture Committee.

The latest text and a number of related issues are explained here, including what “the text” is and says, and a “jargon buster”.

The chairperson refers to “Room E” or “Room D” meetings. These are talks among a group of 37 representative delegations, also part of the “multilateral process”. They normally take place in Room E at the WTO headquarters, but sometimes in another room (eg, Room D). Ultimately, the current phase of the negotiations is about “modalities”, explained here.

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