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Opening up agricultural markets to international trade has been one of the thorniest issues in successive rounds of global trade talks.
Protection in agricultural trade is still high in both the developed and developing world, so agreement in agriculture is crucial to the success of the Doha Development Agenda talks in the World Trade Organization (WTO), particularly for developing countries who stand to make significant gains.
One problem is that agriculture is a relative newcomer to multilateral trade agreements, having been left out of multilateral trade negotiations until the mid-1990s. As a result, tariffs on agricultural imports were uncapped, and import bans and export subsidies went unchecked.
The turning point came in 1994, when countries agreed to reduce agricultural support and protection by establishing disciplines and rules on market access, export subsidies and trade distorting domestic support as part of the Uruguay Round of global trade talks.
They also agreed to resume negotiations on agricultural trade by 2000. These talks are taking place as part of the Doha Development Agenda, a commitment by WTO members to ensure that developing countries reap the benefit of further market opening in all areas of trade.
The current negotiations are aimed at improving access to agricultural markets for all WTO members, developed and developing alike, by reducing tariffs as well as by eliminating or minimising other sources of trade distortion such as subsidies to production and exports.
The OECD supports the negotiations through its work on measuring support and protection, analysing the effects of past market opening measures and the likely outcome of future changes. New issues affecting agricultural trade are taken up and explored. This Policy Brief looks at the issues at stake in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations and who is likely to benefit from further market opening in agriculture.
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