Brazil is engaged in World Trade Organisation(WTO) committee talks aimed at eliminating any potential barriers to poultry and pork exports.
The meeting is in line with an upcoming summit in December, the next opportunity to advance agreements benefiting its farm exports, the head of the WTO said.
Brazil has proposed the adoption of scientific criteria related to sanitary standards in the food trade in a WTO committee, Director-General Roberto Azevedo told a conference on Tuesday.
Brazil and the European Union have an interest in advancing talks to reduce subsidies distorting trade, although no agreement is in sight yet, he added.
The EU, Brazil and three other Latin American countries introduced a WTO proposal in July aimed at reducing farm subsidies.
“For it to be possible to reduce subsidies it is necessary that all countries change. Otherwise it is like unilateral disarmament,” Azevedo said.
The WTO will hold a ministerial conference in Buenos Aires in early December.
The WTO will hold a ministerial conference in Buenos Aires in early December.
Azevedo’s comments underscored the importance of eliminating protectionist barriers at a time when global trade growth remains weak.
The WTO predicts 2017 will be the sixth consecutive year of growth in global trade below three per cent, making for the slowest pace of growth since World War Two, he said.
