G/AG/GEN/145  
9 February  2018 
(18-0902) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Agriculture  Original:  Spanish  
 
  
THE IICA IN THE WTO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE WORK PLAN VIII:  
JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2018  
SUBMISSION BY THE IICA  
The following submission, dated 8 February  2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA ). 
 
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1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  In March  2010, the Committee on Agriculture of the World Trade Organization (WTO) granted 
the IICA ad hoc observer status in i ts regular meetings . Since June 2012, the IICA has been 
operating a WTO Reference Centre , which  provides  technical advisory  services in connection with  
various areas of agricultural trade to individuals from government, business and academic circles 
that are interested in improving  their technical capacity in these areas . 
A number of joint technical cooperation activities have been conducted within the framework of the 
existing alliance between the IICA and the WTO on agricultural subjects  of particular interest to 
the two  institutions and their memb er countries, including, in 2017 , two t echnical fora : one on 
rules of origin in trade in agricultural goods, and the other on the WTO dispute settlement system 
and its relationship with trade in agricultural goods . A regional wor kshop on sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures was subsequently held for 19 Latin American countries . 
1.2.  In this context , the IICA submitted seven  joint work p lans b etween 2010 and 2017  
(documents  G/AG/GEN/92 , G/AG/GEN/95 , G/AG/GEN/105 , G/AG/GEN/115 , G/AG/GEN/125 , 
G/AG/GEN/132  and G/AG/GEN/139 ). 
1.3.  In order to ensure the continu ity of the IICA's commitment, an eighth joint work p lan has 
been drafted  and will be presented to WTO Members  at the next regular meeting o f 
the Committee  on Agriculture . 
2  ACTIVITIES  TO BE DEVELOPED IN RELATION TO THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE 
ON AGRICULTURE  
2.1.  The following activities are under consideration : 
a. Participation in and attendance at meetings of the Committee on Agriculture : The IICA, 
as an observer member of this Committee, under takes to participate in the regular 
meetings held at the WTO addressing matters within its competence . Following these 
meetings , the IICA will prepare  technical bulletins  to inform  government agriculture 
officials  and IICA officials, and the business and academic sectors of 
IICA member  States , about  the most important issues  addressed at each meeting . 
b. Preparation of a paper on the IICA's contribution to the Marrakesh Decision and Food 
Security : The IICA undertakes to inform WTO Members about the contributions made by 
the Institute during the year in the area of food security . It publis hed submissions on 
this subject in 2010 (G/AG/GEN/93) , 2011 (G/AG/GEN/97) , 2012 (G/AG/GEN/104) , G/AG/GEN/145  
- 2 - 
  2013 (G/AG/GEN/111) , 2014 (G/AG/GEN/125) , 2015 (G/AG/GEN/128) , 
2016 (G/AG/GEN/136) , and 2017 (G/AG/GEN/142) . 
c. Support for technical cooperation activities : The IICA will support the WTO in its 
technical cooperation activities geared towards  ministries of agricul ture at both 
hemispheric level, through the Inter -American Board of Agriculture  (JIA), and 
subregional level , through the Southern Agricultural Council, the Central American 
Agricultural Council  (CAC), the Caribbean Allianc e and other ministerial bodies . This 
support is  designed to enhance the involvement of the IICA and its WTO Reference 
Centre in the development of such activities . 
d. Monitoring areas of common interest : The IICA will monitor the progress of the 
agricultural trade negotiations at  the WTO and  will prepare technically to respond to the 
requests  of its m ember States in the area of agricultural trade policy and to develop 
possible training programmes in areas  of common interest with other technical partners . 
The Institute will, in turn, make its technical staff available to the WTO should it require 
support in respect of requests for technical advice and training  (in particular in  
Latin America and the Caribbean) relating to the agricultural matters that form part of 
the Institute 's work . 
e. Compliance by countries with agricultural notification requirements : Before each 
meeting, t he Committee on Agriculture identifies the member countries that have fallen 
behind in submitting agricultural notifications (series G/AG/GEN/86) .1 In this light, 
the IICA will continue to support the WTO's initiatives to conduct regional workshops and 
other training activities for Latin American and Caribbean countries to help them 
improve , and ensure they are up to date with , their transparency commitments . 
Similarly, it will support and channel national and region al initiatives that require 
WTO technical cooperation.  
f. Preparation of technical documents : Given the IICA 's extensive and  proven experience in 
this area, it will assist the WTO Secretariat with such activities  at the Committee's 
request . 
3  THE AGRICULTURAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITHIN THE INSTITUTE  
3.1.  The IICA's activities in the WTO will be  conducted within the framework of the IICA's 
Technical Cooperation Directorate , which will be responsible for implementing this work p lan. The 
implementation of the  plan will help to strengthen IICA member States' capacity to build 
relationships and par ticipate in international forums  and other mechanisms for the exchange of 
knowled ge and mobilization of relevant resources , in accordance with the IICA's  2014-2018 
Medium -Term Plan  and the  new 2 019-2023 plan , which  is currently being drafted and which will 
follow  up on issues of interest relating to international agricultural trade and trade policy . 
The IICA has an experienced network of experts in agriculture, international trade , and agricultur al 
trade negotiations working  both at its central headquarters and at  its offices located  in 34 member 
countries  on the American continent , which will enable it to implement the technical coopera tion 
activities set out in the work p lan. 
3.2.  For further information, please contact : 
James French  
Lead Specialist for Competitiveness and Sustai nability of Agricultural Chains  
Email : james.french@iica.int  
Tel.: (+506) 2216 -0218 
Adriana Campos Azofeifa  
Trade Specialist  
Email : adriana.campos@iica.int  
Tel.: (+506) 2216 -0170 
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1 Notifications are submitted in accordance with the requ irements and  formats adopted in  1995 by  
WTO Members (G/AG/2).