What's New

The issue of large-scale public food stockholding programs played a starring role in this month's 9th WTO Ministerial in Bali (for more analysis, read posts by Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla and David Laborde and Luca Salvatici). The resulting ministerial declaration, released on December 7, establishes an interim mechanism that Members can use to navigate the use and management of public food stocks in lieu of a more permanent solution. The declaration calls for a permanent solution to be concluded no later than the 11th Ministerial Conference.

Since 1998, the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) , coordinated by the Center for Global Trade Analysis at Purdue University, has organized an annual conference to promote the exchange of ideas among economists conducting quantitative analysis of global economic issues. In June 2014, the 17th Annual Conference will be co-organized by AGRODEP and held in Dakar, Senegal.

In December, the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference will open in Bali, Indonesia. Agriculture, and the links between trade and poverty alleviation, food security, and environmental sustainability, will appear again as key issues in the negotiations. The new Road to Bali blog series will provide analysis and dialogue about the critical issues being discussed in the official negotiations, civil society, and research circles, with a particular focus on the negotiations' potential implications for developing countries.

By Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla

In Part I, I mentioned the different channels affecting food and nutrition security, focusing on trade and trade policies. In Part II, I will go into more detail regarding the links between trade, trade policies, and food security, specifically in the context of the WTO.

By Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla