Members also endorsed the Cotton-4's suggestions to include a new standing item on the agenda relating to “COVID-19 and Cotton” in the bi-annual Dedicated Discussions on cotton and to invite the WTO Secretariat to conduct a study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the cotton sector in LDCs.

Celebrations of World Cotton Day 2021

The WTO Secretariat reported on preparations for the 2nd anniversary of World Cotton Day, indicating that this year's celebrations are expected to be in virtual format, as was the case in 2020. The WTO Secretariat is preparing a call for participation that will be circulated among members, partner organizations, civil society and academia.

The aim of World Cotton Day is to increase awareness about the benefits of cotton and its positive impact on millions of people worldwide. The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) suggested that the theme for this year's event be “Cotton for good”, with the aim of ensuring more engagement from brands and retailers.

The launch of World Cotton Day was hosted by the WTO on 7 October 2019 in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNCTAD, ITC and ICAC.

Cotton development discussions

During the 35th Round of Consultations of the Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton, ICAC highlighted recent developments in the cotton market and cotton technologies for Africa. According to ICAC, cotton production and consumption are expected to increase in 2021/22, with production in West Africa expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes, representing 38% growth. ICAC also noted that Africa has lagged behind in adopting new technologies. It outlined six technologies that can make a big difference if adopted, especially for small cotton farmers in LDCs.

The Cotton-4 countries stressed the significant impact the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to have on the cotton industry. The group called on members to show greater transparency in reforms to the cotton sector, including market access commitments. Additionally, the group called for the removal of restrictive commercial measures that could adversely affect cotton trade, which is an important source of income for a number of LDCs.

The Cotton-4 asked technical and financial development partners to help them with the regional “Cotton Roadmap Project”, which seeks to respond to issues in the cotton sector linked to productivity, marketing, value-addition and promote the cotton sector by improving local processing capacity and developing cotton-to-textile value chains at the regional level. They also requested support with regards to transfer of technology for the development of cotton value-added industries, including by-products, and international trade. Developing members expressed their willingness to continue to be reliable partners in South-South cooperation projects. The Cotton-4 also encouraged members to pursue efforts to produce significant outcomes on cotton by the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which begins on 30 November, and suggested a roundtable on funding of cotton projects as a side event during the meeting.

The WTO Secretariat highlighted the main updates in the latest revised Evolving Table on Cotton Development Assistance (WT/CFMC/6/Rev.30). Despite a decrease in the committed amounts for cotton-specific programmes, the number of active cotton projects recorded in the latest version of the Evolving Table has increased from 26 to 27. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan and partner organizations FAO, UNCTAD and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization provided inputs to the revision of the Evolving Table.

Representatives from the Intellectual Property Division of the WTO Secretariat gave an overview on technology transfer to LDC members, focusing on technology transfer in the field of agriculture technology. The Secretariat noted that it organized a series of annual workshops that provided practical focused discussions on technology transfer in the agriculture sector to assist LDCs in better understanding priorities for technological development.

All presentations made in the session are available here.

New WTO cotton web page

The WTO Agriculture Division gave a presentation on the new web page for the Joint Initiative on Cotton By-Products. The web page groups together all information relevant to the joint initiative, including how it came to be, its objectives and results.

The page also includes WTO member presentations on their experiences with cotton by-products development, and useful links that give access to articles and videos produced under the initiative as well as to the WTO-ITC's Cotton Portal, an online tool to access data on cotton.

The World Economic Forum published a video on the potential for cotton by-products development in Africa, which was also presented at the meeting.

Draft General Council Declaration on Support for Cotton By-Products Development in LDCs

The Cotton-4 updated members on the draft General Council Declaration on Support for Cotton By-Products Development in LDCs as contained in document WT/GC/W/808. The group underlined the importance of increasing productivity, processing and development of cotton by-products in LDCs. The Cotton-4 also noted its readiness to improve the text of the Declaration. Together with the representative of the LDC Group, it appealed to other WTO members and development partners to cooperate on the adoption and effective implementation of the plan of action contained in the draft Declaration.

Progress in WTO-UNCTAD-ITC initiative on cotton by-products

Members gave an update on Phase I of the WTO-UNCTAD-ITC joint initiative on cotton by-products. The Cotton-4 countries and Mozambique shared the results of individual feasibility assessment studies. The WTO Secretariat, ITC and UNCTAD updated members on Phase I progress while UNCTAD shared information on ongoing feasibility assessment work in Malawi and Togo, a project funded by the Enhanced Integrated Framework.

Members concluded that the focus should be on targeting the specific needs of countries while considering the sub-regional potential for integration resulting from attracting investment and technologies for cotton by-products development in Africa. The secretariats of ITC and UNCTAD also updated members on a Phase II proposal circulated in document WT/CFMC/W/89. The second phase will be tailored to supporting national action plans and projects for selected cotton by-products.

COVID-19 and cotton

At the 15th Dedicated Discussion of relevant trade-related developments held on 28 May, the Cotton-4 stressed the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to have on the cotton industry. The group called on the removal of restrictive commercial measures that could adversely affect cotton, which is one of the primary sources of income for LDCs.

The Cotton-4 proposed to include COVID-19 and cotton as a standing item on the agenda, starting with the next meeting in November, to continue monitoring the effects of the pandemic. The group also suggested the WTO Secretariat prepares an information note that will look at the impact of COVID-19 on the cotton sector in the Cotton-4 countries and other LDCs. Both proposals were endorsed by members.

Trade-related discussions on cotton

Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta of Costa Rica noted that the facilitators' led process initiated in October 2020 had ended and referred members to the last report of the facilitators (Burkina Faso and Brazil) during the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session. In view of members' apparent readiness to explore ways to improve cotton-related transparency, she urged members to intensify their efforts in the coming weeks.

The Cotton-4 renewed its call for an outcome on cotton at the 12th Ministerial Conference and for increased transparency on members' cotton-related policies. The African Group supported this call, while several other members expressed their readiness to explore ways to enhance cotton-related transparency.

The WTO Secretariat presented a revised “background paper” (TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev.14 and two addenda) compiling up-to-date information on cotton policies in the areas of domestic support, market access and export competition. The Secretariat in its presentation announced an upcoming IT project to enable online submission of replies to the bi-annual cotton questionnaire and search and download reports of cotton-related data. Members welcomed this initiative.

All presentations made in the session are available here.

Cotton Portal and the new user survey

ITC updated the participants on the Cotton Portal, which was launched during the 2017 Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference. The online tool provides a single-entry point for all the cotton-specific information on market access, trade statistics, country-specific business contacts, development-assistance information, and up-to-date ICAC statistics.

Several improvements were introduced to the digital tool since its launch. With the objective of continuing to enhance it, the WTO Secretariat and ITC have developed an online survey to assess the needs and expectations of potential users.

The survey can be found here:  English https://bit.ly/3oNlqBD and French https://bit.ly/3vnrFyi)

Background

Cotton has been a key issue in WTO agriculture negotiations and an important development-related issue since it was raised in 2003 by four African least-developed countries — Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali — known as the Cotton-4.

The decisions on cotton adopted at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference and at the 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Conference  have underscored the importance that WTO members attach to cotton.

The WTO organizes twice a year, since the Bali Ministerial Conference held in December 2013, dedicated discussions of trade-related developments for cotton as part of the “cotton days”, which also cover the development assistance aspects of cotton.