 PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/282
27 March 2002
(02-1587)
AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATIONS, 26 MARCH 2002
WTO members set schedule to meet 12-month ‘modalities’ deadline
A special session of the WTO Agriculture Committee agreed, 26 March 2002, to a work programme
which would set out by 31 March 2003 the key negotiating principles for a final comprehensive farm
trade deal.
The 31 March 2003 deadline was set in November by trade ministers at the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial
Conference in Doha. Ministers also agreed on a 1 January 2005 deadline for reaching a final
agreement on agriculture and all other areas of negotiations that comprise the Doha Development
Agenda.
Started in 2000 as a separate negotation, the agriculture talks are now part of the Doha Development
Agenda, with an enhanced mandate and clear deadlines.
The latest 12-month programme deals with one of the most critical stages of the agriculture
negotiations. It will set “modalities” or targets (including numerical targets) for achieving the
objectives set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration: “substantial improvements in market access;
reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions intrade-distorting domestic support”. It will also include some rule-making. This stage will therefore
determine the shape of the negotiations’ final outcome.
The “modalities” will be used for members to produce their first offers or “comprehensive draft
commitments”. The Doha Ministerial Declaration says this has to be done by the Fifth Ministerial
Conference in Mexico, a few months after 31 March 2003. The negotiations themselves are to end by1 January 2005 as part of the Doha agenda’s single undertaking.
The programme begins with technical work on detailed possibilities for each of the three “pillars” of
the agriculture agreement: export subsidies/competition; market access; and domestic support. Special
treatment for developing countries will be an integral part of all of these, and non-trade concerns will
be taken into account.
Towards the end of 2002, these ideas will be brought together in an overview document. Intensified
negotiations after the New Year would then produce the “modalities” document by 31 March 2003.
Chairperson-designate Stuart Harbinson of Hong K ong, China, presided over the consultations that
produced the consensus backing for the programme. Four informal consultations open to all WTO
members were held to report on smaller group discussions and to hear comments before a consensus
compromise was struck. One of the constraints was the need to avoid a schedule that clashed with
other meetings — including negotiations in other subjects — in a busy year.PRESS/282
Page 2 of 2
ENDSMr Harbinson, who chaired the WTO General Council during the preparations for the Doha
Ministerial Conference, was formally elected chairperson at the beginning of the meeting, a position
he will hold until the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Mexico. He took over from Ambassador Apiradi
Tantraporn of Thailand.
The “modalities” programme in detail :
2002
• June meeting: export subsidies and restrictions  (informal 17–19 June, formal 20 June)
• Early September meeting: market access  (informal 2–3 September, formal 4 September)
• Late September meeting: domestic support  (informal 23–25 September, formal 27 September)
• November meeting: follow-up  (informal 18–20 November, formal 22 November)
• After that, for circulation by 18 December: overview paper  drafted by Chairperson Harbinson,
based on discussions so far.
2003
• January meeting: comprehensive review based on overview paper  (informal/formal 22–
24 January)
• Drafting: first draft  of modalities document
• February meeting: comments on first draft  (informal/formal 24–28 February)
• Redrafting: second draft  of modalities document
• March meeting: consideration of final text  (informal/formal 25–31 March)
• 31 March: deadline
In the first two phases an unprecedented 126 member governments submitted 45 proposals and
numerous other documents setting out their initial negotiating positions in the negotiations. The talkshave now moved into the more difficult stage of attempting to narrow the gaps and ultimately reach a
compromise consensus.
Additional background material:
WTO website www.wto.org
> Backgrounder: WTO Agriculture Negotiations: The issues, and where we are now :
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/negs_bkgrnd00_contents_e.htm
> Agriculture negotiations gateway: follow: trade topics > agriculture > negotiations or go to
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/negoti_e.htm
> Doha Development Agenda follow path from homepage or go to
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm