See also:
> Cotton Sub-Committee
> Development aspects of the Doha Round
  

Background and update     > back to top

• In a nutshell: how to follow current issues in agriculture
  Summary and links to follow latest developments

• Agriculture negotiations backgrounder, updated 1 Dec 04
   
• Fact sheets
  > “The boxes” in domestic support
  > Tariff reduction methods
  > Unofficial guide to agricultural safeguards
    
• Groups in the agriculture negotiations
    

News of the negotiations     > back to top

See also, above:
> news of the negotiations
> background and update

See also, below:
> Phase 1 (2000–01)
> Phase 2 (2001–02)
> Modalities stage (2002– )

And see also:
> Cotton Sub-Committee

Chairs’ texts and meetings (called Special Sessions of the Committee on Agriculture)     > back to top

Current chairperson of Special Sessions of the Committee on Agriculture.

Chairperson’s drafts, documents, reports etc

• Chairperson David Walker’s 21 April 2011 report to the Trade Negotiations Committee
• Chairperson’s report to TNC, 22 March 2010
• Chairperson’s texts, 2008
• Chairperson’s texts, 2007
• Chairperson’s report to TNC, June-July 2006, and June/July 2006 modalities meetings
• Chairperson’s report to TNC, 28 July 2005
• Agriculture modalities ‘remain elusive’, negotiations chairperson reports to TNC, 7 July 2003
• Chairperson’s overview paper of ‘modalities’ proposals, 18 December 2002
• Work programme for the “modalities” stage, 26 March 2002 
• On the 7 December 2001 formal meeting and 3–4 December 2001 informal meeting
• On the 28 September 2001 formal meeting and May, July and September 2001 informal meetings
• On the 26–27 March 2001 meeting
• Work programme for the ‘second phase’, 27 March 2001
• On the ‘first phase’, 27 March 2001 (see also members’ statements)
• On the 21–22 March 2001 meeting
• On the February 2001 meeting
• On the November 2000 meeting
• On the September 2000 meeting
• On the June 2000 meeting
• On the March 2000 meeting

Proceedings: derestricted WTO Secretariat reports on the meetings (download in MS Word format)

• On the September 2000 meeting (27 pages, 158KB; opens in a new window) and corrigendum (1 page, 29KB; opens in a new window)
• On the June 2000 meeting (21 pages, 132KB; opens in a new window)
• On the March 2000 meeting (12 pages, 87KB; opens in a new window)

Phase 1 (2000–2001)     > back to top

• 7 meetings
• 45 proposals from 121 countries (counting the EU as 16, i.e. the 15 countries plus the EU as a group) or 85% of the WTO’s membership
• 4 documents described as notes, technical submissions, discussion papers
• Secretariat background papers
  
  > Phase 1 details, download papers

Phase 2 (2001–2002)     > back to top

Phase 2 negotiations were mainly “informal” and off the record. Unofficial summaries of proposals and discussions can be found ...     > here

Negotiating proposals, notes and discussion papers
See below for full details. Documents listed here are downloadable in MS Word format, newest documents first.

• Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovak Republic: Technical paper on Aspects of non-trade concerns in (post) transition economies, 5 December 2001 (4 pages, 47KB; opens in a new window)
• Mauritius: Second International Conference on Non-Trade Concerns, 20 July 2001 (4 pages, 42KB; opens in a new window)

Preparations for modalities and the frameworks (2002–2004)     > back to top

Now under the Doha Development agenda, the negotiations have a 31 March 2003 deadline to 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 in trade-distorting domestic support”. This stage will determine the shape of the negotiations’ final outcome.

> Press release on “modalities” work programme 27 March 2002

> Work programme: official text

> Deadlines, above

Cancún draft ‘frameworks’

> Members’ proposals and chairs’ drafts

The agreed framework

> The “July 2004 package” and the 1 August 2004 agreed framework

Secretariat background papers     > back to top

> detailed list

> full search (see below)

Search Documents Online     > back to top

Photo: negotiation meeting. The formal “special session”, 27 September 2002. Click below to see the whole room:

> small photo (15KB, 600 pixels wide)

>  big photo (273KB, 1,600 pixels wide)

(Photos open in pop-up windows)