TN/AG/GEN/43  
 
25 April 2017  
(17-2265) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Agricultu re 
Special Session  Original: English  
 
REAFFIRMING DEVELOPM ENT - MC11  
SUBMISSION BY THE G -33 
The following submission, dated 25 April 2017, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Indonesia on behalf of the G -33. 
 
_______________  
 
 
1.  We recall the G -33 submission entitled "Reaffir ming Development  - MC10 Nairobi and Post 
MC10 Nairobi " dated 5 October 2015 as reflected in the document TN/AG/GEN/37.  
2.  We, the G -33 Members, strongly renew the long -standing calls for global trade reforms that 
address inequities and imbalances in the Urugu ay Round Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) so that 
all WTO Members would be governed by a multilateral trading system (MTS) under the WTO which 
is not only open, transparent, and market -oriented but also, more importantly, development 
oriented, fair and provi des a level playing field.  
3.  Developed Members have expansive flexibilities in the AOA, which make their farmers and 
exporters artificially competitive. These flexibilities include, amongst others, high AMS entitlements 
with no product specific caps on AMS; very high levels of total per capita domestic support; 
non-transparent and complex TRQ and non-ad valorem  tariff systems including tariff peaks and 
escalation; and highest entitlements to the special safeguard provisions (SSG), among others.  
4.  Developing Mem bers' tariffs have not been able to match these wide -ranging flexibilities 
causing periodic import surges and almost permanent market distortions in agriculture trade to the 
disadvantage of developing Members where agriculture is characterized by small sub sistence 
farming and market failure.  
5.  In order to continue the fundamental reform in agriculture and to address the inequities and 
imbalances, our Ministers in the Uruguay Round inscribed the "built -in" agenda under Article 20 of 
the AOA. The agenda has bee n carried through and further reinforced by the Doha Development 
Agenda (DDA) in 2001 (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1) which puts "development" and special and differential 
treatment (S&DT) for developing Members at its core.  
6.  The objectives enshrined in the DDA can only  be achieved once all the elements of the 
agriculture negotiations have a comprehensive and development -oriented outcome. Until the same 
is achieved we firmly believe that the negotiations must cont inue towards and after 
the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC 11) Buenos Aires, building on the various Ministerial 
decisions/declarations and the development framework we have agreed to date since 2001.  
7.  The Group is willing to engage constructively and contribute to a credible and balanced 
outcome, which withstands the test of development at MC11 Buenos Aires and beyond.  
8.  As part of the balancing and S&DT instruments, the G -33 has long been calling for meaningful 
Special Products (SP), an accessible and effective Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) and a 
permanent solut ion on Public Stock Holding (PSH) for food security purposes. These tools are 
needed for sustaining investments in agriculture for food security, livelihood security and rural 
development, as well as addressing the destabilizing and crippling effects of im port surges and TN/AG/GEN/43  
 
- 2 - 
 
  downward price swings in the increasingly volatile global agricultural markets largely due to huge 
subsidies in productions and exports by the developed Members.  
9.  Also the Group firmly believes that there should be a permanent solution on pu blic stockholding 
for food security purposes and a Special Safeguard Mechanism for developing Members as 
mandated. There is a clear mandate to arrive and adopt a permanent solution on Public Stock 
Holding (PSH) for food security purposes by 2017. The Nairo bi Ministerial Decision on SSM for 
developing Members has reinforced and strengthened the mandate in the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration to establish both price and volume -based SSM.  
10.  The time is short. Hence G -33 requests Members to constructively and me aningfully engage 
on the two most important issues of SSM and PSH with a view to deliver them in MC11 so that 
developing Members are equipped with these tools to counterbalance some of the inequities built 
into the WTO rules in favour of the developed Members. 
 
__________