After difficult negotiations at the tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi an agreement was reached over the comprehensive rules for agricultural export subsidies.
Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt states:
“I welcome these historical decisions of the WTO Ministerial Conference. Germany always advocated for the abolition of all forms of export subsidies. We all share the responsibility to ensure fair trade takes place in the world. Sustainable agricultural policies, that consider the needs of developing countries especially and the principles of the free market, are the only way to ensure that the benefits of international agricultural trade are available for all countries.”
Germany insisted during the last reforms of the agricultural policies that export subsidies were abolished. And credits relating to export and assistance for the disposal of food surpluses will be subjected to stricter rules than before. The African countries could accept these new WTO-rules, which should prevent a negative impact on their domestic agriculture in future. To reduce these export distorting measures there has been a work program decided upon.