WTO Rules and Agricultural Development Cooperation between Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract

For many developed countries with confined land resources and high costs of labour, agricultural farming in foreign territories provides attractive business opportunities. Such investment projects will also be welcomed by many hosting developing countries given the substantial effect of economic development and employment. In this sense, agricultural development cooperation at an international level could contribute to the solution of the North-South problem. Notwithstanding this necessity and potential contribution, it is doubtful whether the current WTO legal system can fully support this type of cooperation. Various governmental supports involving the cooperation projects could be determined as prohibited or actionable subsidies as well as discriminatory measures. WTO provisions regarding the special and differential treatment for the developing economies are of no help. This paper identifies legal problems involving agricultural development cooperation between developed and developing countries and explores ways to interpret relevant WTO rules and to amend them in order to solve the problems.