The agricultural negotiations in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA) are calling for a specific Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for developing countries that will protect agricultural producers from import surges or price declines, and could potentially add stability to domestic markets. While most of the parameters of this SSM have been decided upon, the DDA negotiations faltered on the issue of whether or not developing nations should be allowed to exceed their pre-Doha bound tariff rates when invoking the SSM. For developing countries, tariffs on agricultural products are an important policy tool to support domestic prices and protect their smallholder producers from global market shifts. Tariffs, however, distort world prices and create global welfare losses. The purpose of this thesis is to assess the impacts of the SSM on global prices and welfare using a non-spatial, synthetic, stochastic, global, partial equilibrium model of the world soybean market. The SSM is assessed in concert with the currently proposed DDA tariff cutting formulas since the additional duties allowed under the SSM are proportional to prevailing bound tariff levels. This study asserts that the SSM actually decreases global price and welfare stability, decreasing world prices of the commodities on which an SSM is placed, though positively affects tariff revenues for those particular commodities. While the SSM may offer a short-term solution for developing countries, its long-term outlook as a price stabilization tool is a not credible argument. / Master of Science

In connection with the process of globalization, the importance of international trade increases not only as means of gaining welfare but as a way to solve problems. The World Trade Organization (WTO) claimed this approach in 2001 through a new trade negotiation round, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Within DDA the WTO pledged to improve the conditions of participation of the developing countries in the multilateral trading system. Not after nine years of negotiation the round is heading to its conclusion and questions concerning the fulfilment of the development aspect are emerging. The presented thesis aims to evaluate the success of the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system and how the WTO contributes to it.

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Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The problem that this Research Paper is aiming to examine is whether the Bali Agreement has successfully impacted on the consensus pitfalls and the Doha Round stalemate as shown in the background to the study. / National Bursary and Grants Agency (ANBG)

À l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC), le Cycle de Doha pour le Développement, lancé en 2001, achoppe sur le volet agricole, en particulier sur le dossier coton. La thèse vise à analyser, catégoriser et évaluer les impacts des positions dans les négociations en cours du Cycle de Doha pour le Développement, émanant des États membres de l'OMC, des organisations non gouvernementales, des universitaires et des institutions internationales. L'originalité de l'évaluation réalisée est accentuée par la prise en compte d'un scénario alternatif qui tient davantage compte du traitement spécial différencié en faveur des pays en développement. Face au scénario de statu quo de l'Accord de l'Uruguay Round, les scénarios actuellement proposés sont ceux du projet de modalités révisé de Falconer de décembre 2008 sans disposition particulière pour le coton, du projet de modalités révisé de Falconer de décembre 2008 avec des dispositions particulières pour le coton (position « C4 »), et des propositions respectives de l'Union Européenne et des États-Unis. Le scénario alternatif que nous proposons intègre l'amélioration de l'accès du coton des pays africains au marché chinois et le renforcement du soutien domestique dans les pays cotonniers d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre. Mais l'originalité de ce scénario additionnel procède de l'affectation des économies réalisées par les pays développés, dans la réduction de leurs soutiens domestiques, pour constituer un fonds de solidarité internationale de soutien à la filière coton des pays en développement. Par souci de comparaison, le scénario de libéralisation totale des échanges est également pris en compte, même s'il relève du domaine purement théorique. Nous avons utilisé le modèle ATPSM (Agricultural Trade Policy Simulation Model) pour mesurer les impacts des sept scénarios en termes de production et d'échanges internationaux. Notre évaluation intègre aussi la mesure de l'équité, en nous appuyant sur l'approche de Stiglitz et Charlton. Nos résultats montrent que le scénario alternatif augmente le prix aux producteurs de coton de 10,8%, mieux que les propositions du C4 (9,0%) et des USA (6,1%). Le scénario alternatif augmente le prix mondial (8,1%) et le volume des exportations de coton (2,3%), certes à un degré moindre que la proposition du C4 mais davantage que celle des États-Unis. Au regard du critère d'équité, le scénario alternatif est aussi favorable que les autres scénarios et mieux que le statu quo de l'Uruguay Round. Le scénario alternatif présente les éléments favorables à un compromis pour conclure le Cycle de Doha, avec des effets bénéfiques pour les pays en développement et l'introduction d'un mécanisme nouveau de solidarité internationale. / Agriculture, especially cotton, causes contention in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA) since 2001. This study analyses and provides quantitative estimates of the likely economics impacts of various scenarios. We propose an alternative scenario further based on the principle of special and differential treatment provided to developing countries. We consider seven key scenarios in this study: (1) the Uruguay Round agreements, (2) Falconer' negotiation draft, revised in December 2008 but without special measures for cotton, (3) Similar Falconer's draft but including special measures for cotton as proposed by the C4 Group, (4) the European Union position, (5) the United States position, (6) our alternative scenario of agreements and (7) the total liberalization even if ambitious in scope. Our alternative scenario lies on the improvement of the access of African cotton into the Chinese market and on the strengthening of domestic support to cotton production in West and Central Africa. This scenario is original by considering the set up of a new fund for international solidarity through the subsidy savings implemented by developed countries. We use the Agricultural trade Policy Simulation Model (ATPSM) to evaluate the economic effect and the Stiglitz and Charlton theory of equity for equity assessment. The results showed that our alternative scenario increases the world cotton price by 8.1%, the producer price by 10.8% which is higher than the Falconer' negotiation draft with special measures for cotton (9.0%) and the United States position (6.1%). With regard to the equity criteria, our alternative scenario is as attractive as the other scenarios in comparison with the Uruguay Round agreements scenario. The alternative scenario can help to conclude the WTO-Doha Development Agenda. This scenario takes into account some key elements of a compromise between major actors of WTO, and provides provisions for and international fund to help the west and central Africa cotton sectors.

Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The Doha Round of negotiations on the liberalisation of agricultural trade inherited complications from its predecessor - the Uruguay Round (UR). It needs to be noted, as one of the fundamental differences, that agriculture sectors in the developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) get support from their governments. In contrast to the situation, in the developing countries, agriculture is taxed to generate government revenue. The subsidies that farmers receive in the developed countries affect farmers globally through world prices (world prices depression). Therefore protection and greater subsidies should be not encouraged. As such, after a long time of preferential treatment, agriculture trade was tabled as a separate issue of negotiations at the UR and resulted to the round to be prolonged. However, one of the achievements of the UR was imposing of bound tariffs on agricultural products and determining tariff equivalence for non-tariff measures. Then, the Doha Round (DR) also known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) which is the first round to place development and focus strongly on agricultural liberalisation as a tool for development. International trade theory supports agricultural liberalisation, as negotiated in the DDA. Therefore, the DDA, in seeking more liberalised agricultural markets, continues a theoretically sound approach, as in the UR. The effects of liberalising agricultural trade in the DDA will differ across countries, whereas some will gain, others may loose, and the same situation is true for different sectors within an economy. The focus of the DDA on agriculture, as a tool of development, links well to the fact that agriculture in the developing countries accounts for a substantial share of their gross domestic products (GDPs) and exports. This situation, therefore, calls for a closer consideration of the possible impact of agricultural liberalisation in South Africa even though agricultural share of GDP is less than 4 percent.

<p>The research paper seeks to investigate the possible ways in which African countries can maximise their benefit from the existing special and differential treatment clauses for trade in agriculture, and, then, make recommendations as to what should be the potential bargaining position of African countries with regard to future trade negotiations on agricultural trade.</p>

<p>The research paper seeks to investigate the possible ways in which African countries can maximise their benefit from the existing special and differential treatment clauses for trade in agriculture, and, then, make recommendations as to what should be the potential bargaining position of African countries with regard to future trade negotiations on agricultural trade.</p>

Magister Legum - LLM / The research paper seeks to investigate the possible ways in which African countries can maximise their benefit from the existing special and differential treatment clauses for trade in agriculture, and, then, make recommendations as to what should be the potential bargaining position of African countries with regard to future trade negotiations on agricultural trade. / South Africa