Brazil and 15 other Latin American countries pressure WTO against protectionist policies

Brazil and 15 other Latin American countries pledged on June 14th to work together to push for the reform of world agricultural trade rules at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in reaction to the protectionist policies of countries such as India. Latin America represents 25% of world agricultural exports.

According to Brazil’s foreign relations authority, for the first time in the history of WTO, 16 Latin American countries issued a joint declaration in favor of reforming multilateral rules for agricultural trade.

The group is committed to finding solutions to the global food insecurity crisis and shows concern about the protectionist policies of some countries in the WTO that want a historic setback in agricultural liberalization.

The delegations of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay issued a communiqué to the other WTO members defending the maintenance of food supply chains and agricultural inputs such as fertilizers amid the global food insecurity crisis.

The pandemic and international military conflicts, climate change, and natural disasters negatively impact international trade and logistics, increasing the volatility of agricultural products, inputs, and fuel costs.

“This leads to unreasonable protectionist measures that make it difficult for value chains to adequately function,” they say.

“We regret that these events have led to shortages and increased prices of inputs and fertilizers in our region,” the statement reads. “We urge members with the capacity to supply these products to maintain and, if possible, increase their output, allowing our agricultural producers to continue to contribute to global food and nutrition security.”

“We are concerned about the pressure put on international markets by implementing some recently adopted emergency policies that create distortions in global markets and unreasonably impede or restrict trade flows, such as pro-cyclical stockpiling measures,” the Latin American communiqué states.

The group finds that strengthening the implementation of relevant WTO agreements will positively affect the recovery process of the world economy.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the full original article, please go to:

https://valor.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2022/06/14/brasil-e-mais-15-da-amrica-latina-juntam-foras-na-omc-contra-protecionismo-agrcola.ghtml

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