WTO DG highlights vital role of trade for food crisis, inflation

Director General of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala underlined the vital role of trade in addressing food crisis, inflation and asked the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers to take important steps at12th Ministerial Conference (MC12).

The steps included a decision to exempt from export restrictions food bought by the World Food Programme (WFP) for humanitarian purposes and a declaration to facilitate trade in food, fertilizer and other agricultural inputs.

“Cooperation on trade will be vital in tackling the current food insecurity crisis, and the WTO “is determined to be part of the solution,” she said.

The session on strengthening global collaboration for tackling food insecurity was held recently at Bali in Indonesia.

"WFP chief David Beasley says the legally binding decision will save the agency time and money when procuring food for millions of vulnerable people," she added.

The DG also mentioned that WFP estimates that up to 345 million people worldwide are now acutely food insecure or at high risk.

"Ministers also adopted a Declaration pledging to facilitate trade in food, fertilizer and other agricultural inputs. They stressed the importance of not imposing export restrictions and encouraged members with surplus stocks to release them on international markets,” the DG added.

However, the DG suggested that lowering trade barriers is a more promising strategy for curbing inflation.