RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/GEN/25
14 July 1998
(98-2776)
Committee on Agriculture Original:  English
STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FOOD AND
AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO) TO THE MEETING
OF THE COMMITTEE ON 25-26 JUNE 1998
First on the cereal import bill of the LDCs and NFIDCs.  You will recall Mr. Chairman that
FAO made a detailed presentation on developments in the food security situation in these two groups
of countries at the November 1997 session of this Committee.  That analysis reviewed the longer term
trends in food production, dependence on imports and trends in their food import bill and how thesecountries were affected by the 1995/96 price spike in cereal markets.
FAO continues to monitor the food situation in these countries and developments in the cost
of their cereal imports.  For the current 1997/98 marketing year, our latest estimate indicates that the
cereal import bill of the LDCs and NFIDCs will be about US$7.1 billion, which is nearly US$1 bi llion
lower than the high level of US$8.1 billion reached in 1995/96.
However, although world market prices presently have returned to the levels of the early
1990s, cereal import bills of these two groups of countries continue to remain relatively high.  For
example, in 1993/94 cereal prices were about the same level as today.  The cereal import bill of theLDCs and the NFIDCs in that year was only US $4.5 billion, compared to US$7.1 billion in the
current marketing year.  Two factors are primarily responsible for the persistence of these high import
bills:  first, higher volumes of imports to meet the growing gap between requirements and domestic
production, and second, the low level of food aid  in recent years compared to the past when
concessional flows accounted for a large share of the cereal import needs of these countries.
The second issue I would like to inform the Committee on is FAO's association with the
Integrated Framework initiative to provide trade-related technical assistance to the Least Developed
Countries.  FAO is collaborating with the six lead agencies, that launched this initiative, to find ways
to include in the integrated technical assistance package issues in agriculture, fisheries and forestry,
on which FAO could offer its specialized assistance.  We have alerted our FAO Representatives in the
countries concerned about this Initiative.  In turn, the FAO Representatives in these countries havebrought this to the attention of the Ministries of Agriculture so that assistance needs in the agriculture
sector are also reflected in the total package of assistance.
The third piece of information that I would like to bring to the attention of the Committee is a
recent FAO brochure entitled FAO Technical Assistance and the Uruguay Round Agreements .  This
brochure identifies trade-related activities at FAO in agriculture, fisheries and forestry,  describes  how
these activities relate to the Uruguay Round Agreements and to the continuation of the reformprocess, and highlights specific areas where FAO has comparative advantage and could
 provide trade-
related technical assistance to interested countries.  Interested delegations may obtain copies of thispublication from FAO's Geneva Office.  Increasingly, our technical assistance has been turningtowards helping countries with preparations for future negotiations in agriculture.  In this connection
we have scheduled four regional workshops during the current year.  These are being organized with a
variety of funding sources and with the collabor ation of other organizations, including WTO, WB,
IFPRI, bilateral agencies and regional bodies.  Resources permitting more similar activities are
planned for next year.
__________