Africans draw an analogy between athletic competition and economic competition: In international competitions, athletes who are caught using drugs are stripped of their medals and banned from further competition. Yet, in the world cotton market, producers who receive an unfair advantage in the form of direct subsidies are allowed to continue to compete.
No Outcome On The Doha Round If No Outcome On Cotton:
Africans are aware that when the Doha Round was launched in 2001, cotton was not included as a separate item for discussion. However, since the introduction in April 2003 of the Sectoral Initiative on Cotton by the Cotton-4 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali, cotton has achieved prominence within the Doha Round. For Africans, the WTO is cotton and cotton is the WTO. Cotton is viewed as a test of the legitimacy of the Doha Round as a development round.
If We Care About Distortions In Cotton Caused By Domestic Support, We Must Care About The Doha Round:
Africans realize that without a successful conclusion to the Doha Round there will not be progress on cotton subsidies. Countries agreed in 2004 to treat cotton specifically, ambitiously and expeditiously in two tracts within the Doha Round: trade and development.
Trade issues in cotton are being addressed within the overall negotiations on agriculture, including all three pillars. At the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, developed countries agreed to eliminate all forms of export subsidies on cotton in 2006. They also agreed to grant duty free/quota free access for cotton exports from least developed countries from the commencement of the implementation period.
However, Africans recognize that progress on the pillar of domestic support is dependent on an overall agreement on agriculture within the Doha Round. On this pillar at Hong Kong, the WTO agreed that as an outcome of the negotiations, trade distorting domestic support for cotton production would be reduced more ambitiously under whatever formula is agreed, and that it should be implemented over a shorter period of time than generally applicable.
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International Cotton Advisory Committee
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