Jun 30, 2026 · 1 hr 52 min · 13 segments
Policy Seminar | IFPRI Policy Seminar Agricultural Trade at a Crossroads with Latin American, Caribbean, and African Perspectives for Post-MC14 Organized by IFPRI, United Nations Economic Commission…
Thank you very much, Excellencies, representatives of international organizations, esteemed authors and researchers, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the African Union Permanent Delegation to the UN in Geneva and other international organizations and myself, it is an honor to welcome you to this book launch event on Agricultural Trade at Crossroads, Latin America, Caribbean and African Perspective for Post-MC14.
I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our co-organizers IFRI, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the CGIR Science Programme on Policy Innovations for bringing us together around this important and timely agenda.
Your tireless efforts to bridge the gap between rigorous empirical research and actionable public policy is precisely what the global community needs at this fractured moment in our history.
As someone who has had the privilege of serving as a Minister of Agriculture who now has the responsibility of representing the African Union in the multilateral negotiation here in Geneva, I look at our agenda today through a dual lens.
I see the technical ground-level realities of our African smallholder farmers, and I see the complex, often rigid geopolitical architectures of global trade, This workshop is the bridge we urgently need between those two worlds.
Excellencies, today we meet at a time when the multilateral trading system is facing a critical moment.
The 14th WTO Ministerial Conference was highly anticipated as a moment of reform, where the global community could finally update international trade rules that have remained largely stagnant for decades.
The draft ministerial declaration on agriculture failed to reach a consensus.
The historical divides on domestic support, public stockholding for food security purposes, and market access have once again paralyzed the negotiating machinery.
Prolonged droughts and unpredictable rainfall patterns across many parts of Africa and devastating floods and hurricanes in Africa, Latin America and Caribbean are systematically destroying crop yields and erasing decades of agricultural development.
geopolitical shocks, ongoing conflicts and fragmented supply chains have triggered unprecedented volatility in fertilizer, fuel and grain prices, disproportionately punishing net food importing developing nations.
and on microeconomic suffocation, high interest rates, rising debt burdens, and currency depreciation have severely restricted the physical space of government in the Global South, making it nearly impossible to adequately subsidize or support our agricultural sectors.
It is a backbone of the economy of developing countries, particularly in Africa.
It represents the primary source of livelihood for over 60% of our population.
And on the other hand, Africa possesses 60% of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land.
We have the youngest fastest growing population on Earth and a rapidly expanding domestic food market that is projected to exceed one trillion dollars in value by 2030.
For the global south and for Africa in particular, agriculture trade is then a vital lifeline.
It is our absolute baseline for food security, macro financial stability and poverty eradication.
When global trade rules fail to deliver equity, it is our citizens who pay the heaviest price.
Thank you very much, Excellencies, representatives of international organizations, esteemed authors and researchers, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the African Union Permanent Delegation to the UN in Geneva and other international organizations and myself, it is an honor to welcome you to this book launch event on Agricultural Trade at Crossroads, Latin America, Caribbean and African Perspective for Post-MC14.
I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our co-organizers IFRI, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the CGIR Science Programme on Policy Innovations for bringing us together around this important and timely agenda.
Your tireless efforts to bridge the gap between rigorous empirical research and actionable public policy is precisely what the global community needs at this fractured moment in our history.
As someone who has had the privilege of serving as a Minister of Agriculture who now has the responsibility of representing the African Union in the multilateral negotiation here in Geneva, I look at our agenda today through a dual lens.
I see the technical ground-level realities of our African smallholder farmers, and I see the complex, often rigid geopolitical architectures of global trade, This workshop is the bridge we urgently need between those two worlds.
Excellencies, today we meet at a time when the multilateral trading system is facing a critical moment.
The 14th WTO Ministerial Conference was highly anticipated as a moment of reform, where the global community could finally update international trade rules that have remained largely stagnant for decades.
The draft ministerial declaration on agriculture failed to reach a consensus.
The historical divides on domestic support, public stockholding for food security purposes, and market access have once again paralyzed the negotiating machinery.
Prolonged droughts and unpredictable rainfall patterns across many parts of Africa and devastating floods and hurricanes in Africa, Latin America and Caribbean are systematically destroying crop yields and erasing decades of agricultural development.
geopolitical shocks, ongoing conflicts and fragmented supply chains have triggered unprecedented volatility in fertilizer, fuel and grain prices, disproportionately punishing net food importing developing nations.
and on microeconomic suffocation, high interest rates, rising debt burdens, and currency depreciation have severely restricted the physical space of government in the Global South, making it nearly impossible to adequately subsidize or support our agricultural sectors.
It is a backbone of the economy of developing countries, particularly in Africa.
It represents the primary source of livelihood for over 60% of our population.
And on the other hand, Africa possesses 60% of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land.
We have the youngest fastest growing population on Earth and a rapidly expanding domestic food market that is projected to exceed one trillion dollars in value by 2030.
For the global south and for Africa in particular, agriculture trade is then a vital lifeline.
It is our absolute baseline for food security, macro financial stability and poverty eradication.
When global trade rules fail to deliver equity, it is our citizens who pay the heaviest price.
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