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15 June 2022 
(22-4661) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Agriculture  Original:  Spanish  
 
  
THE IICA IN THE WTO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE  
WORK PLAN XII:  
JUNE TO DECEMBER  2022  
SUBMISSION BY THE IICA 
The following submission, dated 14 June 2022, is being circulated at the request of the 
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).  
 
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  G/AG/GEN/200  
 
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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 its regular meetings. Since June  2012, the IICA has been 
operatin g 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 are as.  
1.2.  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 member countries. It sh ould also be noted that the IICA has had 
ad hoc observer status in the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures since 1999.  
1.3.  In this context, the IICA submitted 11 annual joint work plans between 2010 and 2021 
(documents G/AG/GEN/92, G/AG/GEN/9 5, G/AG/GEN/105, G/AG/GEN/115, G/AG/GEN/125, 
G/AG/GEN/132, G/AG/GEN/139, G/AG/GEN/145, G/AG/GEN/150, G/AG/GEN/158 and 
G/AG/GEN/185).  
1.4.  In order to ensure the continuity of the IICA's commitment, a 12th joint work plan has been 
drafted and will be presented to WTO  Members at the regular meeting of the Committee on 
Agriculture to be held on 27 and 28  June 2022.  
2  ACTIVITIES TO BE DEVELOPED IN RELATION TO THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
AGRICULTURE  
2.1.  The followi ng activities are under consideration:  
a. Participation in and attendance at meetings of the Committee on Agriculture:  
The IICA, as an observer organization, undertakes to participate in-person or virtually 
in the regular meetings of this Committee held at th e WTO and in those involving 
matters within the competence of the Institute's member States. Following these 
meetings, the IICA will systematize key information, both for national and regional 
bodies involved in agricultural trade and for the business and academic sectors of IICA 
member States.  
b. Support for technical cooperation activities related to agricultural trade:  The 
IICA will support technical cooperation activities at the hemispheric, regional and 
national levels geared towards ministries of agricu lture, competent entities involved in 
agricultural trade and ministerial bodies. Some of this support is designed to enhance 
the impact of the IICA and its partnership with the WTO in the development of such 
activities. One such example has been the trade policy courses for Latin American 
countries to be held with other organizations such as El Colegio de México, the Food 
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Central American 
Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA) and the Secretari at of the Central American 
Agricultural Council (SECAC).   
c. 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 member State s in the area of agricultural trade policy and to develop 
possible training programmes in areas of common interest with other technical partners. 
The IICA 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) related to matters such as bioeconomy and innovation; 
family farming  and territorial development ; food health , quality and safety; climate 
change and agricultural resilience; gender and youth; regional integration; trade 
promotion; and the internationalization of businesses.  G/AG/GEN/200  
 
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  In this connection, t he IICA has begun informal discussions with the WTO to establish 
contacts and jointly define priority technical topics of interest between the Africa n region 
and the Americas. In January 2022, the IICA, in partnership with Alliance for a Green 
Revolution in Africa (AGRA), held a high -level dialogue to explore opportunitie s for 
cooperation and to lay the groundwork for a ministerial meeting planned for the second 
half of this year.   
d. Compliance by countries with agricultural notification requirements:  In 
document G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.44 of March  2022, the Committee identified co untries that 
have fallen behind in submitting agricultural notifications.1 In this light, the IICA will 
continue to support the WTO's initiatives to conduct activities including national and/or 
regional workshops and other training events that are geared towards Latin American 
and Caribbean countries to help them to improve their transparency commitments and 
ensure they are up to date with those commitments. Similarly, it will support and 
channel national and regional initiatives that require WTO  technical  cooperation.  
In this connection, in 2020, the IICA completed a study on the challenges and 
opportunities for the countries of the Americas in terms of fulfilling agricultural 
notification obligations and participating in the meetings of the WTO Committee  on 
Agriculture . In this study, countries provided recommendations for enhancing 
transparency in agriculture and participation in the Committee on Agriculture . Three 
possible areas of action for the IICA were identified: institutional capacity -building, 
technical training and collaborative networks. The summary of this study was presented 
to WTO Members at the final Committee meeting of 2020, held from 30 November  to 
1 December.  
Last year, efforts to move forward with this initiative continued and priority  was given 
to countries requiring technical assistance to improve their preparation of agricultural 
notifications and participation in the Committee on Agriculture. A task force was 
established , composed of officials from the ministries of agriculture and trade of a 
selected country (in this case, El Salvador), technical specialists from the IICA and WTO , 
and technical staff from the WTO delegations in the country. Lastly, a work plan was 
developed that includes the specific technical needs of the identifie d actors in order to 
improve their technical capacities in relation to agricultural notifications.  
During the second half of 2022, the intention is to hold at least one face -to-face activity 
in the selected country to bring together the actors involved in preparing agricultural 
notifications and to address all the technical questions they may have on this subject.   
e. Preparation of te chnical 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.  
At the end of 2021, the IICA and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)  
carried out  a technical activity with the WTO and the general public at which they 
launched a publication on the road to the Twelfth Ministerial Conference  (MC12) . This 
publication is available at https://repositorio.iica.int/handle/11324/19221 . 
As part of the follow -up to this, it is hoped that at least one post-MC12 technical activity 
will take place in the second half of the year  to disseminate the outcomes of  the 
Conference reg arding agricultur al issues  and that affect IICA member countries.  
3  TRADE AND 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 plan. The 
implementation of the plan will promote knowledge management and  support  the work carried out 
under the IICA's International Trade and Regional Integration Programme through its action lines 
 
1 Notifications are submitted in accordance with the requirements and formats adopted in  1995 by 
WTO Members (G/AG/2).  G/AG/GEN/200  
 
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  on trade policy; market access; trade promotion and internationalization of businesses; coordination 
through technical cooperation servic es; and mobilization of relevant resources for inter -American 
agriculture, in accordance with the IICA's 2022 -2025 Medium -term Plan .  
3.2.  The IICA has an experienced network of experts in agriculture and international trade based 
at its central headquarters, at its offices in 34 member countries in the Americas and at its 
Permanent Office for Europe, in Spain.  
3.3.  For further information, please contact:  
Adriana Campos Azofeifa  Daniel Rodríguez Sáenz  
Technical specialist. International Trade and 
Regional Integration Programme (IICA)  
Email: adriana.campos@iica.int  Manager. International Trade and Regional 
Integration Programme (IICA)  
Email: daniel.rodriguez@iica.int  
 
 
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