WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/137
19 March 2001
(01-1326)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  French
AGRICULTURAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS IN THE WTO –
PRELIMINARY POSITIONS OF SENEGAL
I. BACKGROUND
Agricultural products represent 20 per cent of Senegalese exports, while food imports account
for more than 29 per cent of our total foreign assets.
In addition, our exports of agricultural products consist primarily of groundnut products
followed by cotton, fruits and vegetables and hides and skins.
Also, Senegal remains a net food importer, in particular of rice, which accounts for about
75 per cent of cereal imports.
Finally, it is essential to note that for Senegal the key role of agriculture is to contribute to  the
food security of the country.  Hence, in accounting for nearly 70 per cent of job creation in Senegal
and being essentially subsistence agriculture, the sector should not be dealt with during the present
multilateral trade negotiations following a purely trade-centred approach.
These features of agriculture in Senegal give an idea of the position and multiple role of
agricultural activities, which justify direct interven tion from the State, in particular in the context of
an appropriate agricultural policy that focuses on food security and favours the development ofcomplementarities on a regional scale, in particular for West Africa.
It is on the basis of these considerations that the following proposals are made:
II. PROPOSALS
2.1 Market access
- For essential reasons linked to the right of development of small and medium-sized
nations, maintain the admission free of duties and charges resulting from preferential
historical arrangements for agricultural products on the markets of developedcountries;
- recognize for developing countries the right of access to appropriate special and
appropriate safeguard measures enabling them to curb anti-competitive practices
jeopardizing their agricultural production on their domestic markets;
- grant total exemption from duties and quotas, accompanied by measures to promote
access to knowledge and technical infrastructures needed to ensure compliance with
standards for LDC products on export markets;G/AG/NG/W/137
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- accept the "give and withdraw" principle, whereby developing countries which had
opted for binding their customs tariff to a tari ff ceiling would be entitled to rationalize
their tariff concessions appearing in their schedules of concessions annexed to the
Agreement on Agriculture.
2.2 Export competition
- Retain the principle of a progressive substantial reduction in export subsidies as well
as the introduction of disciplines on any form of export assistance;
- accompany the above arrangement with appropriate mechanisms aimed at promoting
the long-term adjustment of the agricultural production and marketing systems ofdeveloping countries;
- establish in tandem mechanisms to prevent the adverse impact of the reduction of
subsidies on the availability of basic foodstuffs necessary for the food security of net
importing countries covered by the Marrakesh Decision on Measures Concerning thePossible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and
Net-Food Importing Developing Countries.
2.3 Domestic support
- Allow developing countries the full possibility of giving internal support to the
agricultural sector with a view to ensuring food security, preserving jobs in rural
areas and reducing poverty;
- introduce flexible measures in their favour for this purpose.
2.4 Special and differential treatment
- Give developing countries with low agricultural production flexibility in all
instruments relating to agricultural production, to enable them to undertake reforms
necessary for maintaining their level of  food production in the short term and
significantly improving agricultural productivity in the long term;
- envisage replacing criteria in the form of deadlines, which are often fixed arbitrarily,
with objectively verifiable economic indicators, based in particular on the level of
development or growth of the sector;
- accordingly, make provision for revising the deadlines granted to developing
countries, in particular as regards the granting of marketing subsidies provided for
under Articles 9.4 and 9.1(d) and (e) of the Agreement on Agriculture.
2.5 Food security
- Enhance the operational aspects of the Marrakesh Decision on Measures Concerning
the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and
Net-Food Importing Developing Countries;
- make food aid management more transparent and more participatory, avoiding in
particular all forms of distortions that it can cause for the agricultural production
systems of the developing countries;G/AG/NG/W/137
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- establish a special agricultural investment fund for developing countries with a view
to enabling them to finance in particular basic infrastructures and hydro-agricultural
works.
Senegal reserves the right to modify, supplement or withdraw some of its proposals in order
to align them with common positions which migh t subsequently be agreed upon within the West
African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
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