Trade ministers of more than 40 countries of the Group of 33 (G33), coordinated by Indonesia, on 25 February issued a clarion call for adopting the much-delayed mandated “permanent solution” for public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security at the WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi.
A day before the commencement of MC13 at the Abu Dhabi conference hall, the G33 trade ministers expressed deep concern that “almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, and hunger will increase significantly in Africa by 2030, as recently projected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.”
Regretting the “serious lack of progress in agriculture trade negotiations, including to fulfil the outstanding mandates of previous Ministerial Conferences,” the G33 trade ministers cautioned that “progress is key to restore trust between Members and preserve the credibility of the WTO.”
“The vast majority of the G33 Members recognize the critical importance of public stockholding for food security purposes for developing country Members, including LDCs and NFIDCs, in meeting our food and livelihood security, as well as our rural development imperative, including supporting low income or resource poor producers,” the G33 trade ministers emphasized.
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