Saleem Khan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) said Friday that horizontal negotiations are likely to start on WTO on February 8 and this is right time to discuss Pakistan's position and get input from the key stakeholders and agriculture analysts.
He was presiding over a three-day workshop on "WTO and Minfal Strategies for Commodity Development" here at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) headquarters.
The workshop was organised by the Minfal in collaboration with PARC and WTO Mission in Geneva. It is to be noted that the Chair of the WTO Agriculture Negotiating Group released a Draft Modalities for Agriculture document on July 17, 2007. This document formed much of the basis of the discussions/negotiations during the past three months.
The chair convened several weeks of daily negotiations with a small group of countries on the Draft Modalities document. Significant progress appears to be achieved for all of the "major" modalities and many of the "minor" modalities for agriculture.
Another new modalities document is expected to be released in the recent month. The discussions covered all three pillars, domestic support, market access and export competition.
Addressing the inaugural session, Saleem Khan apprised the participants of the Workshop that Minfal has created Economic Trade and Investment Wing which is a hub and brain of the Ministry where all the data is analysed and a coordinating unit with adequate staff will co-ordinate with all the stakeholders for setting up targets and work plans to be achieved focused targets.
He informed that Minfal is preparing action plan for trade and investment. He said this workshop will provide opportunity for interaction amongst various stakeholders and we hope active participation of all members will generate enriched debate.
He informed the policy-makers about the status of negotiations and a new text on AoA is expected to come out in the last week of January. There was G-20 meeting at the end of November where all members reiterated that AoA (Agreement on Agriculture) should remain the prime mover for the negotiation process, he added.
He said at the end of the three days workshop an effective action plan for one year will be brought out for agriculture trade related matters, quality control system, commodity development and research.
Manzoor Ahmad, Pakistan Counsellor, Geneva, gave a comprehensive presentation on "Doha Round-Likelihood of conclusion and benefits for Pakistan and clarified some of the doubts about the services sector and the active participation of Pakistan in the negotiations process.
After the presentation detailed discussion on AoA and market access was held where participants analysed Pakistan's capacity to benefit from this access and strategic policy incentives.
During the three-day workshop participants will suggest to increase competitiveness of major commodities, horticulture, dairy and meat.