WTO AGRICULTURE NEGOCIATIONS
&
CAIRNS GROUPS COALITION STRATEGY SUCCESS
URUGWAY (1986-1994)

Tidadini Maya
102SIS28 Development & Cooperation
Ewha University
After the end of the Second World War, the role of the World Trade Organization has been crucial and primordial to create a framework that would regulate the international trade by promoting the free trade and abolishprotectionism. To achieve the goal of trade liberalization, the mission of the WTO consisted in assisting and arbitrating the multilateral negotiations between the participant countries having similar objectives; i.e., elimination or reduction of trade barriers and hindrances. The negotiations process within the WTO should comply with the principles stated by the charter of the WTO: non–discrimination, transparency, reciprocity, and tariffs reduction.
The WTO has dealt with several issues related to the liberalization of different economic sectors except the agricultural sector, the latter has been excluded from the GATT* (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) negotiations for the first four decades. Due to the large number of disputes and conflicts on Agricultural Trade raisingfrom the general distortion of the internal agriculture market and the lack of regulation and agreements between countries, ministers taking part to the 1986 WTO Conference (Uruguay, Punta El Est) have declared in the opening session of multilateral negotiation regarding agricultural sector that the negotiation will be completed within four years. (See the Reference).
The main distortions of theagricultural sector resulted in dividing the market into two main groups which are: the developing and the developed countries. Indeed, agricultural policies are quite different for both groups; the outcomes are more negative for the developing countries than the developed countries. The post war period had and evident impact on the domestic policies. For industrialized countries, agriculturalpolicy was to achieve a self efficiency food production. To fulfill this scheme, tremendous budget exceeding 100$ billion per year of subsidies, was granted to the farmers in order to ensure their production. The rapid growth of the agricultural production helped the governments to develop other strategic sectors and technologies and grant their farmer subsidies that implies a large stockaccumulation. (See the Reference)
On the other hand, the developing countries had the same objectives to ensure self efficiency of food production by sustaining the national and domestic agricultural production.
The outcome of developing countries is dramatically affected by the developed countries policies that flood the markets of developing countries with their surplus of production and protectingthus, their national production by imposing taxes, quotas and other barriers.
Though developing countries imports growth is steadily rising but yet agro-industry is to be developed. While export gains generated by agricultural sector are minimal, the external debt was evaluated to 1.25 trillion (1988). (See the Reference)

The WTO negotiations and decisions are reached through consensus by thewhole participant members; it’s sometimes difficult to obtain a result and consensus between 150 countries participants with different economical and political interests and wide gap of bargaining position on the negotiation table. One of the particularities of the WTO relies in the fact that rules that are to be applicable are the result of long negotiations between countries; it implies that WTOmembers comply with rules in conformity with the agreed procedure. The dominant position bargaining power is attributed the United Stated considering its sustainable economic growth at the International Level. In view of this unbalanced bargaining power, countries attempts to form coalition or alliance in order to represent a sole influencing voice and increase their bargaining power against the…