1 Titre et logos Date Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/Coordination SUD Seminar (Washington, DC, September 5-6, 2006) The Doha Round and Trade in Agricultural Products Who are the losers and what should be done?

2 1. Introduction We must further the development of agricultures and, to do so, create an environment that encourages agricultural producers to invest, innovate, and intensify... But we must see that we don't worsen the social, environmental, and food problems present in the different regions of the world and around the planet as a whole. The international community must agree on social, environmental, and food "terms and conditions" to put to or even impose on the economic actors. The definition of these "terms and conditions" must represent the focus of international negotiation.

3 3 majors questions We will try to respond to 3 major questions: What is the current state of the social, environmental and food issues related to agricultural production? What are the mistaken hypotheses that prevail today in international trade negotiations? On what principles could a new international agricultural trade system be built?

4 1 - What is the current state of the social, environmental and food issues related to agricultural production? The social issue The environmental issue The food issue

5 2 – What are the mistaken hypotheses that prevail today in international trade negotiations? 1st error factor: the quality of the statistics and the reliability of the models 2nd error factor: the belief in the self-regulating ability of agricultural product markets 3rd error factor: the belief in the 6th principal of the Washington consensus that claims that the more (international) trade there is, the more development there is. 4th error factor: the ignorance of the complementary nature of local, national, regional, and international scales

6 3 - On what principles could a new international agricultural trade system be built? Most NGOs and peasant organizations expressed their desire for the WTO negotiations as they appeared in June 2006 to fail. This desire signifies neither the renouncement of the principle of a multilateral system, nor the rejection of the WTO as an institution offering a multilateral framework for negotiation. The agricultures of the poor and weak countries, especially African ones, have suffered too much from free-market overkill by the IMF and World Bank and from certain bilateral agreements to renounce the principle of a multinational agreement. We propose some principles that could help found a new international trade system in the agricultural field. These proposals concern the national (or regional) scales and international scales.

7 1 - Return to the recognition of national or regional (food) sovereignty: Recognition of the right of countries that are victims of dumping policies to protect their markets Recognition of the right of countries to protect themselves from the excessive ups and downs of international markets Recognition of the right of countries to protect products of a strategic nature Recognition of the right of countries to grant preference to national and regional products.

8 2 - Stabilization and regulation of international markets: Reconsideration of all supports and elimination of direct or indirect support to exportation Organization of the agricultural markets of each sector and regulation of marketing in order to avoid imbalances that cause erratic price movements, which can be tragic for producers and consumers Rebalance of the relationships of power in the agri-food sectors, especially by bringing back one of the original principles of capitalism: the antitrust law. Recognition of the social and environmental value of agricultural products, especially by establishing labels enabling traceability of products, as experienced on a small scale by fair trade.

9 Titre et logos Date Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/Coordination SUD Seminar (Washington, DC, September 5-6, 2006) The Doha Round and Trade in Agricultural Products Who are the losers and what should be done? Henri Rouillé dOrfeuil – Chairman of Coordination SUD, national coalition of French NGOs