In the run-up to the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, major challenges face the governance of agricultural and food trade. In today’s context of change and uncertainty, the relative importance and urgency of traditional agricultural trade issues (including domestic support and market access) and the possibilities to progress with a multilateral strategy seem to have diminished. With the growing global focus on the environmental and nutritional dimensions of food systems and the global responsibility of all countries to contribute to food system transformation, attention must be paid to new agricultural trade issues that have gained greater urgency. The WTO, as the primary institution overseeing multilateral negotiations and trade, must identify the main elements and issues that can define its new roles, functions, and institutional organization.

The papers in this new publication from IFPRI and IICA look at these challenges and what they mean for Latin America. Join us to hear from the book’s authors and discussants on the main agricultural trade negotiation issues for the next WTO Ministerial Conference from a Latin American perspective.

Some of the underlying work for this presentation was funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM).

Welcome

• Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI

Presenter

• Valeria Piñeiro, Senior Research Coordinator, IFPRI (Presentation)

Discussants

• Lee Ann Jackson, Head of Division, Agro-food Trade and Markets, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Q&A Panel

• Eduardo Bianchi, Professor and Researcher, Instituto Universitario Escuela Argentina de Negocios, Consultant, Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA)
• Antoine Bouet, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
• Adriana Campos Azofeifa, International Trade Specialist, Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA)
• Adriana García Vargas, Consultant on Trade and Trade Policy Matters, Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA)
• Joseph Glauber, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
• Nelson Illescas, Director en Fundación, Instituto Para Las Negociaciones Agrícolas Internacionales (INAI)
• David Laborde Debucquet, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

• Sabine Papendieck, Partner, Estrateco Consultants

• Martin Piñeiro, Director, Agricultural Affairs Committee, Argentine Council of International Relations (CARI)
• Agustín Tejeda Rodriguez, Chief Economist, Bolsa de Cereales de Buenos Aires

Moderator

• Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla, Head of Latin American and Caribbean Program, IFPRI