WT/MIN(17)/38  
10 December 2017  
(17-6770) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Eleventh  Session  
Buenos Aires , 10-13 December 20 17 Original: English  
 
 
G-331 MINISTERIAL  COMMUNIQU É 
BUENOS AIRES, 9 DECE MBER 2017  
The following communication, dated 9 December 2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Indonesia on behalf of the G -33. 
 
_______________  
 
 
1. We, Ministers and Representatives of the G -33 Members met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 
9 December  2017, on the occasion of the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference to assess the 
current state of play of the Doha Developm ent Agenda agriculture talks and exchange views 
on future work, in particular relating to the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) and the 
Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes (PSH).  
2. We welcome the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference as an important opportunity to renew the 
collective commitment of all WTO Members to a robust, fair, and predictable rules -based 
multilateral trading system. We express our sincere appreciation to the Government and 
people of Ar gentina for their hospitality and excellent work in hosting this Conference.  
3. We reiterate the importance of agriculture for ensuring  food security, livelihood security, and 
rural development in developing Members including Least -Developed Countries (LDCs) , 
Small and Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) and Net Food Importing Developing Countries 
(NFIDCs) as enshrined in Doha and Hong Kong mandates. We emphasize the need for taking 
into consideration the development component of the agriculture negotiations and  the 
importance of delivering on the on -going reform in agriculture and the completion of the 
DDA.   
4. The increased volatility of food productions and prices on the global market since the food 
and financial crisis  in 2008 has had a debilitating effect on the li fe of small and resource -
poor farmers. It is important therefore for Members to respectfully fulfill the Nairobi 
Ministerial Decisions and preceding Ministerial Decisions on the needs to esta blish a 
permanent solution for Public Stockholding for Food S ecurity Purposes (PSH) and an 
effective Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for developing country Members in 
safeguarding their food security, livelihood security and rural development interests. We also 
urge Members to remain cognizant  of the subsistence natur e of agriculture in most 
developing country Members including LDCs, SVEs and NFIDCs.  
Buenos Aires Deliverables  
5. We reiterate the Nairobi Ministerial Decisions on Special Safeguard Mechanism 
(WT/MIN(15)/43) and Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes  (WT/MIN(15)/44), 
through which Members are mandated to continue the negotiations on both issues in the 
                                                
1 Members of the G -33 are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Plurinational State 
of Bolivia, China, Côte d' Ivoire, Congo, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, 
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Madagascar, 
Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakist an, Panama, the Philippines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, 
Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Chinese Taipei, Tanzania, 
Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  
 WT/MIN(17)/38  
 
- 2 - 
 
  dedicated sessions.  These Dec isions have reinforced Members' collective resolve to advance 
negotiations where concrete progress can be achieved includin g focusing on elements of the 
DDA and with a view to achieving an outcome that would among others rectifies some of 
imbalances in the existing WTO rules on agriculture.  
6. We wish also to reiterate that the Nairobi Ministerial Decision on SSM has strengthened  the 
mandate in the "July Framework " and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and reaffirms 
that developing Members shall have recourse to both a price -based and volume -based SSM.  
Members shall be engaged constructively and focus the discussion on outstanding issues and 
refrain from making any linkage with other issues, with a view to find a pro -development 
and balanced SSM, which is accessible and effective in addressing the impact  of import 
surges and price depressions caused by short -term and cyclical volatilities.  
7. The Nairobi Ministerial Decision on PSH further reinforces the preceding mandates given to 
Members to further negotiate the PSH issue as stipulated in Bali Ministerial Decision taken 
on 7 December 2013 and General Council Decision taken on 27 November 2014 , and to 
arrive at a permanent solution at MC11. A permanent solution on PSH without any additional 
payment is therefore a must have at MC11 . We underline that any permanent solution 
should cover the current and future programs of developing country Member s. 
8. The G -33 is making every effort through constructive engagement with other Members in 
order to arrive at meaningful, development -centered and credible outcomes on the SSM and 
PSH at MC11.  
9. While respecting each Member 's rights and positions in the negot iation on both issues, we 
express  our deep concerns that convergence has not been achieved on these two areas. 
Members failed to make meaningful progress for convergence, despite all the constructive 
engagement and flexibilities that have been demonstrated  by the G -33 Members. We, thus, 
strongly urge Members to find ways to address the impasse, and to show flexibility and 
political will in the negotiations, based on the Doha Ministerial Declaration and subsequent 
Declarations and Decisions thereafter. All t he WTO Members must be cognizant of the 
negative impact on the WTO 's credibility, if Members fail to deliver concrete outcomes on 
PSH and SSM in Buenos Aires.  
Post Buenos Aires and the G -33 
10. We are of the view that WTO Members shall continue seeking a comp rehensive conclusion of 
the DDA after Buenos Aires. We underline that the special and differential treatment for 
developing country Members including LDCs, SVEs and NFIDCs in the agriculture 
negotiations must be operationally effective to enable them to ef fectively take account of 
their development needs. We, urge other WTO Members to continue delivering the DDA in 
the area of agriculture based on the Draft Agriculture Modalities of December 2008.  
11. In the broader Doha agricultural reform, we call Members to  resume negotiation on the 
domestic support and market access pillars and continue to seek a level playing field in 
global agricultural trade. We underscore the need to secure Special Products (SP) for 
developing country Members whenever discussions on tar iff reduction on agriculture 
products resume in the market access pillar.  
12. The G -33 shall remain a resilient and a dynamic group, representing the interests of 
subsistence farmers in the developing world. We reaffirm the important role of the Group in 
ensuring that the global agricultural reform is attuned to the needs of all developing country 
Members and in establishing a strong, fair, and rules -based multilateral trading framework 
through meaningful and effective special and differential treatment. W e will cooperate with 
other Members on other areas in the WTO agriculture negotiations where there are common 
interests and shared objectives.  
13. Finally, we renew our commitment to engage actively and constructively in the negotiations, 
guided by the Doha ma ndate and centrality of development.  
 
Buenos Aires, 9 December 2017  
 
__________