Promoting Food Security through the Multilateral Trading System: Assessing the WTO’s Efforts, Identifying its Gaps, and Exploring the Way Forward

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have unveiled the vulnerabilities of global food systems, resulting in food shortages, price spikes, and worsening food security. The World Trade Organization can play a key role in addressing these challenges through its developed body of rules. Its regulatory framework on agriculture, however, is affected by shortcomings and asymmetries that pose challenges to the long-term achievement of secure and sustainable food systems. Despite extensive negotiations among countries in the Committee on Agriculture ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference, few concrete proposals were made to reform trade rules on agriculture. Additionally, the 12th Ministerial Conference itself failed to produce satisfactory results with respect to food security. The ongoing stalemate in agricultural negotiations since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic indicates the need for a new, holistic approach to address food security at the World Trade Organization, particularly in preparation for the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference in 2024. This approach should be informed by equity considerations and grounded in the notion of sustainable development and the human right to food. While a comprehensive reform of the Agreement on Agriculture informed by this approach is the ultimate goal, it is unlikely to occur in the short- to medium-term due to disagreement among countries on how to reform the three pillars of the Agreement. Therefore, an incremental approach could be adopted by prioritising issues for which short- to medium-term reforms are more likely to garner consensus, such as sustainable agricultural production, and by employing soft law instruments. The latter favour a flexible approach and promote cooperation and trust among countries.