Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
WTO Unit,Ministry of Food,Agriculture & Livestock (MINFAL)Annual Report 2006*:
The WTO Unit in MINFAL was incepted in September 2005, as a development Project under ASPL-11, in recognition of the need for empirical evidence informing WTO Food & Agriculture-Related Matters (WTO-FARM) policies including inter alia on on-going mandated negotiations under Article 20 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), and on change management under WTO-FARM regime including inter alia Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) management.
The Unit in this context advised MINFAL, and supported WTO Wing, Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and
The Unit became formally operational, at a time when Pakistan was hosting Bhurban Ministerial of Group of 20(G-20) Developing Countries, in Murree in September 2005,a few weeks prior to the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference, [then scheduled to be] held in Hong Kong (HKMC) from December 13-18, 2005.
In these circumstances, the Chief of the Unit started giving informal inputs to the negotiation process, since G-20 Meeting in Bhurban, from
The bulk of initial work undertook by the Unit involved helping formulate national negotiating stance for HKMC, and in this context analyze the proposals tabled by different WTO Members. Despite this modest beginning and serious human-resource constraints, which to date remained a key constraint towards Unit’s sustainability, Chief of the Unit being assisted by only two of MINFAL researchers, the Unit was able to rise to the challenge, providing timely input to MINFAL on WTO-related policies on one hand and to our negotiators in Geneva on the other. A number of proactive analytical studies were produced, to name few, the ‘Market Access and SPs & SSM, Food Aid & Pakistan, and ‘
In addition to handling the mounting workload emanating from the negotiations in
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*The report is a compilation of quarterly/weekly reports submitted by this Unit
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
In only a span of 15 months, despite host of institutional and management-related problems, the WTO Unit faced since its inception; it was able to win recognition for its work par excellence, both domestically and internationally.
The Unit:
The Unit was created under ASPL-11 funding, with its component lying with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in the form of Unilateral Trust Fund (UTF), for technical backstopping of the Unit
The WTO Unit, a dedicated setting dealing with WTO FARM issues, in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) was set up in mid September 2005.The Unit started formally operating on
Whereas, the recruitment process for the Unit staff commenced in August 2005, practically no project staff member could be deployed with the Unit to assist the Chief ,to date for so many reasons.
The current skeleton structure of the WTO Unit consists practically of only three professional staff members. The Unit is led by the Chief of the Unit-the technical head, and was supposed to be supported by an Economist, a SPS Specialist, a TRIPs Specialist and a Statistician, besides two MINFAL research officers, working on secondment basis with the Unit. Unfortunately, the core project staff could not be hired despite repeated requests. The Chief of the Unit himself was unable to secure his salary and perks from the Ministry as promised in the job offer, and had ultimately to knock the door of Honorable High Court for help. The issue remains unresolved to date, and is sub judice as of now.
Administrative & financial management backstopping and coordination with FAO was to be provided by the Project Management Unit (PMU) MINFA, as envisaged under the PC-1.However, even after 15 months, as stated above, salary-related establishment issues remain unsettled, and recruitment of core staff could not be done. Similarly, training of staff and capacity building-related proposals, including inter alia provincial workshops couldn’t be held for want of coordination with FAO.
The Mandate:
The WTO Agreements are a complex set of international legal instruments, interfacing international economics that include inter alia a host of rules related to
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
international trade in food &agriculture. National understanding of these Agreements and rules is a prerequisite for both informed policy at national & international levels and change management at domestic front under WTO regime. This capacity was lacking in general in the public settings and in particular in the MINFAL, which was further constrained by the acute shortage of WTO expertise in
In this backdrop, the MINFAL WTO Unit was set up to help fill the gap, and was assigned following key tasks:
· Undertake analyses and provide technical support for the on-going WTO mandated negotiations on agriculture
· Analyze the implications of the WTO negotiations on
· Monitor the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture(AOA), including activities of other WTO Members
· Promote Understanding, and help interpret emerging WTO rules relevant to agriculture & food sector
· Prepare notifications on various parts of the agriculture Agreements (e.g. AMS and Green Box expenditures, SPS notifications etc)
· Promote awareness and help expand the over-all knowledge base of the stakeholders
· Review and identify legislative changes in the context of SPS management
Achievements:
1. The Setting and the Value culture:
The Chief of the Unit, immediately on assumption of his responsibility, managed to set an automated Unit from a scratch, and strived for a corporate-like setting, promoting value culture of team work, participatory approach, trust, sense of responsibility and sincerity of purpose in the ranks of the Unit.
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
His efforts to this end were impacted though at different levels, which affected adversely sustainability of such initiative of him.
2. UNIT’S Strategic Vision:
Right after the Unit became operational the Unit, in line with the expectations and deliverables identified in the project document, focused on strategizing its agenda on well thought of policy guidelines. The vision thus developed was based on a thorough analysis of importance of agriculture sector for
2. Analyzing the Proposals tabled in the WTO:
With the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference only weeks away, the immediate task before the Unit was to quickly develop a thorough understanding of the various issues in the negotiations and of the positions of different WTO Members and Groups. Without an appreciation of the nature of issues involved and their analyses it would have been rather difficult to develop a National Negotiating Stance. A detailed examination of the proposals on tables was then carried out. All the proposals by the
As a follow up of HKMC, the unit continued analyzing the proposal, tabled by the WTO Members, guided towards formulating modalities for the Agreement under DDA. The process was carried through analyzing the Reference Papers, produced by the Chair of Agricultural Negotiations, on each pillar of the AOA. The Unit analyzed all reference papers, and the proposals contained in the reference paper, and informed MINFAl, MOC and the
Whereas, since July 2006 negotiations at WTO were suspended the Unit kept MINFAL abreast of different initiatives of key players through weekly update on negotiations. More than one dozen update were generated by the Unit in this regard.
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
3.Developing Alternative Proposals:
The Unit not only was reactive to different proposals tabled, limited to examining the proposals launched by other countries; it also proactively safeguarded national interests by putting together alternative proposals on issues that of national importance. With this approach, the Unit, under the guidance of the Chief of the Unit, came up with different options in terms of level of ambition, for example in the area of market access, to inform negotiators, of the thresholds. These proposals provided
3. Update on negotiations:
From its very first days the MINFAL WTO Unit maintained daily contact with the Secretary MINFAL and our negotiators in
The negotiators were kept abreast of all the analyses done in the Unit. In turn the
4. Formal briefing of the Secretary MINFAL
The Secretary MINFAL, who conceived the idea of creation of this dedicated WTO Unit in MINFAL, and always took interest in WTO negotiations, was since Bhurban meeting of G-20 through HKMC was briefed, by making formal presentations before each Agricultural week in WTO. The Chief WTO on his return from
5. Training:
Capacity building is one of the objectives of the WTO Unit. To ensure speedy access to trade data the staff of the WTO Unit, along with provincial staff were provided earlier a special database training in two software: the WITS (World Integrated Trade Systems) and the ATPSM (Agriculture Trade Policy Simulation Model). The Unit through FAO, invited Mr. Umer Ali of the UNCTAD,
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
also invited for this training. The participants received hands-on training and carried out simulation exercises. This training imparted by the Unit shall go a long way towards data base management, especially in the provinces.
A batch of eight students, of M.Sc. (Economics) of Fatima Jinnah Women University (JJWU), successfully completed their internship for 8 weeks with the Unit. They have been formally instructed in ‘Economics of protection and support, and during their internship have been provided insight on food security, food aid, Intellectual Property Management, trade data sourcing, AMS, Trade & sustainability, Trade & development and Trade & Justice. The role of the Unit in this regard was highly appreciated by the students, faculty and the varsity
The unit Chief also proactively advised TRTA program on the workshop program for provinces, which was conducted in the first week of July,2006.
Two of the Unit staff namely Mr. Amjad Zafar and Mr. Liaqat Ali were trained from
The Chief of the Unit, on invitation from WTO, also attended 2 week long SPS specialized course.
No training however could be imparted as envisaged under PC-1,to the existing staff of WTO Unit from UTF/FAO despite repeated reminders to the PMU, except to the SPS Specialist who had already left the Unit.
6. Linking Stakeholders:
The Unit has been interacting closely with a host of organizations both nationally and internationally. In addition to the various government departments like the WTO Wing of the Ministry of Commerce, the Unit has established closer working relationship with the key stakeholders both nationally & internationally. The Unit also enjoys a good working relationship with various civil society organizations across the country, and in the South Asian region.
From its beginning the Unit was entrusted to build bridges between the GOP and the stakeholders including inter alia the civil society. For this purpose the Unit has constituted committees on various disciplines. The principal amongst these is the CG on the WTO consisting of leading figures from the industry, academia, farming community and the civil society. The first meeting of the CG group was held in mid November 2005 before Hong Kong Ministerial Conference(HKMC). The participants were apprised of the negotiating stance adopted by
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
The Unit also arranged a series of countrywide awareness raising seminars in partnership with the civil society. These seminars were held in
After HKM the Chief in collaboration with the civil society conducted many debriefing sessions, which were carried by key dailies.
His interview in this regard also published in a leading national daily.
In November 2006 two workshops were organized in collaboration with Agriculture Department, Government of Punjab and P&D Department, Government of Punjab. The Chief WTO presented his papers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP0,Hazard analyses and Critical Control Pint(HACCP),and change management under WTO in the agriculture sectors. Workshops were also organized on food safety management in collaboration with URS in
8. Institutionalizing of Change Management:
Besides, CG a Task Force on SPS/TBT led by the FAM has been established, while specialized Committees on Codex have been established. A National Codex Contact Point (CPP) and a National SPS Enquiry Point(NEP), have also been named and notified.
First ever meeting of the National Codex Committee was convened, an institutional approach adopted to address food safety & quality issues through proactive engagement in standardization process.
A National SPS/TBT Strategy has been drafted awaiting approval &implementation. The Strategy aims at setting stage for SPS-TBT management on countrywide basis following a strategic approach.
To cultivate the change management capacity with in the ranks of MINFAl, the Chief of the Unit gave added emphasis to institutional development, and with in couple of months came up with four projects to gear the process of change management. These include:
i. Establishment of National Animal & Plant Health Inspection Services (NAPHIS),integrating agricultural health & food safety setting of MINFAL by forging functional linkages and aiming at SPS/TBT management. The Project was in principle approved by the CDDWP in its first sitting, and the Chief of the Unit with MINFAl submitted a revised/improved draft for onward submission to the P&D Department.
The revised NAPHIS project now has been cleared by the CDWP.
ii. Establishment of Intellectual Property Management & IPR Audit Facility to underpin innovation-driven agricultural development in the country. The project was approved by the DDWP, and FSC&RD was assigned the responsibility of its execution. Its fate to date is unknown to the Unit.
iii.
Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
iv. Establishment of Trade & Investment Unit to target strategic growth areas & products for investment-led development. The project was in principle approved by the DDWP.
v. Trade & Development (TAD):
A project supplementing the WTO project was proposed and was approved by the DDWP.
vi. Making SPS/TBT Enquiry Point Operational & Responsive: An action plan was developed and formally presented to the Secretary for approval, with emphasis on transparency in notification process and effective coordination for SPS management. In this regard a List Serve of NEPs of 150 Members of WTO was created to effectively communicate on SPS issues with trading partners and WTO Members. A proposal for training of SPS-related National Notification Authorities has also been submitted with the MINFAL.
vii.
9. Participation in the International Fora:
In December 2005, Dr. Pirzada, the Chief of the Unit, joined other members of
Since then for want of timely administrative and financial decisions, the Chief could not attend meetings in
In November,2006 on invitation from the
.
10. Advising MINFAL on Change Management:
The Unit regularly advises MINFAL on technical issues related to international trade, such as PTAs, FTAs, BITs, SPS/TBT related and crosscutting issues and their management.
viii. Publications:
Following publications of the Chief of the Unit, also appeared during this period:
i. Annual Report
WTO Unit MINFAL
Managing the Challenges of WTO Participation" (http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521677548) was published by WTO through Cambridge Press ,just before this month's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of WTO, carries country case study contributed by the Chief of the Unit..
ii. Standards & Market Access: Need for proactive Agenda, in Global Change Perspective
iii. Two brochures, one on Codex working and an other on impact of WTO on
iv. A SPS study by World Bank carrying two studies of the Chief of the Unit, one on Livestock Sector and other on Cross Cutting institutional issues, with regard to SPS Management
v. Two new publication namely Mango Trade &WTO, and Common position for South Asian countries in WTO have been submitted by the Chief WTO, and accepted for publication in the Journal on S&T(PCST-MOST) and Policy Perspective(PSI) respectively.
(Dr. Syed Wajid H.Pirzada)
Chief WTO
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