MOREPRESS RELEASE
PRESS/215
28 March 2001
(01-1524)
AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATIONS:  26–27 March 2001
WORK PROGRAMME AGREED FOR TALKS’ ‘PHASE 2’
WTO agriculture negotiators wrapped up the first phase of the negotiations on 27 March
2001, and swiftly agreed on a work programme for the second phase. An unprecedented number of
governments participated actively in the first phase.
Altogether 125 WTO members (counting the EU as 16) out of a total of 140 submitted 44
negotiating proposals and three technical submissions in the first phase, which began in March 2000(see press release 172).
The negotiators will now look in greater depth at the proposals, dividing their work according
to subject, so that ultimately, in a later phase, th ey can enter into the bargaining that will be necessary
to reach a consensus agreement.
“The fact that almost all WTO members, big and small, have submitted such a wide variety of
well thought out proposals reflects a widespread commitment to continue to reform agricultural
trade,” said WTO Director-General Mike Moore. “M ore than that, it is a powerful vote of confidence
in the multilateral system.
“The next phases are not going to be easy, but there is clearly a healthy determination to work
together on this,” he said. “The interests of everyone, from subsistence cultivators and herdsmen in
developing countries, to modern farmers in the developed nations, are being pushed in these talks.
“A year ago when the agriculture negotations were launched I said: ‘This is the WTO working
at its best. The hard bargaining still lies ahead, and I’m sure that will be much more difficult. But the
goodwill shown at this meeting is a good omen for the future,’ What I said then is even truer today”
he added.
The new negotiations on agriculture started in 2000 under the deal struck at the end of the
1986–94 Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks. It is written into Article 20 of the WTO
Agriculture Agreement, part of the Uruguay Round package.
Kicking off the stock-taking session of the negotiations on 26 March, the chairperson,
ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru, said: “The  examination of (the) proposals and submissions
(of the first phase) has been both detailed and intensive. This I am sure has contributed to heighteningPRESS/215
Page 2
MOREour appreciation of the wide range of interests involved, as well as the complexity of many of the
issues which will have to be addressed in more detail in the next phase.”
Even so, the first phase was “relatively straightforward”, he went on. “The next phase will
represent the beginning of a more challenging process.”
For more information, see the WTO website www.wto.org  and in particular the section on the
agriculture negotiations: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/negoti_e.htm
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Work Programme for the Second Phase of the Negotiations for Continuing the Reform Process
under Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture
• Nature and scope of  Work Programme:  work in depth on all issues and options for policy reform
set out in Members' proposals, with further elaboration as appropriate.
• Basis of work:  Article 20, negotiating proposals submitted by Members and their additional
elaborated proposals.
• Special and differential treatment is an integral part of all elements of the negotiations.
• Organisation of Work Programme:  work to be conducted in informal and formal meetings of the
Special Sessions;  Chair to prepare reports on the informal meetings and prepare annotatedagendas ahead of the meetings.
• Sequencing of Work Programme and Timetable:  three Special Session meetings to be held back-
to-back with the regular meetings of the Committee on Agriculture in September and December
2001 and in March 2002 (each of these Special Sessions would convene informally and conclude
with short formal meetings), plus three inform al Special Session meetings in May and July 2001
and in February 2002.  Any additional meetings would be scheduled by the Chair after
consultations with Members.
• Review of progress of the negotiations shall take place in the formal March 2002 meeting.
Without prejudice to Article 20, which details the objective of the negotiations and the factors
to be taken into account, the Chair recommends the following list of trade and non-trade issues drawn
from Members' proposals for the first two/three meetings:
Tariff quota administration
Tariffs
Amber BoxExport subsidies
Export credits
State trading enterprises
Export restrictions
Food securityFood safety
Rural development
The foregoing work programme is adopted without prejudice to the decisions that may be
taken at the fourth Ministerial Conference.PRESS/215
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Seventh Special Session, Committee on Agriculture 26 – 28  March 2001
Statement by the Chairman
on the First Phase of the Negotiations on Agriculture
Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales
This meeting is the seventh Special Session and marks the end of the first phase of the
negotiations.  As was agreed in March last year at the first Special Session, we must now take stock of
the progress made so far in the negotiations.
The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and the related commitments in each
Member's WTO Schedule of commitments were the first steps in a longer term reform process in
agricultural trade as recognized in the Preamble and Article 20 of the Agreement.  Article 20 required
that the negotiations on continuing the reform programme be initiated one year before the end of theimplementation period.
For the past twelve months the Committee on Agriculture meeting in Special Session has
been negotiating the continuation of the reform process as required by Article 20 of the Agreement on
Agriculture and in accordance with the decision of the General Council in February 2000.
In my view a great deal of progress has been achieved under the work programme established
in March last year for the first phase of the negotiations.  It is important of course that this momentum
is sustained into and throughout the next phase of the negotiations.
In all, 44 negotiating proposals and 3 technical papers have been submitted by a total of 125
WTO Member countries covering the different issues related to agriculture trade that are of major and
fundamental interest and importance to the participating countries concerned.  In addition the
Secretariat has made available 27 background papers at the request of Members in order to facilitate
the negotiating process.
The examination of these proposals and submissions has been both detailed and intensive.
This I am sure has contributed to heightening our appreciation of the wide range of interests involved,
as well as the complexity of many of the issues which will have to be addressed in more detail in the
next phase of the Article 20 negotiations.
In a sense the first phase of the negotiations, although it has involved a great deal of work in
capitals and in the Special Session meetings, has been relatively straight forward.  Its importance lies
in the fact that the basic positions of participants are now on the table.  The next phase will represent
the beginning of a more challenging process.
At your request I have conducted extensive informal consultations on how the second phase
of the Article 20 negotiations should be structured and organized.  I would like to thank all
delegations for their contributions and assistance in this regard.  I am encouraged to believe that the
draft work programme under consideration constitutes a finely balanced basis for the next phase of the
negotiations.
I would now like to open the floor for Members to make their respective statements in the
context of the stock-taking exercise.
END