KAMPALA: African countries can now export their cotton to developed countries duty-and quota-free as from January 2016 following a global deal sealed in Nairobi at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference.
The ministers agreed on a deal that will allow the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to export more cotton to developed countries.
This will help the LDCs, mainly those in sub-Saharan Africa, to gain greater access to non-producing foreign markets because of the suppressed customs and taxes.
The agreement includes three key elements – on market access, domestic support and export competition.
The deal comes into effect from January 1, 2016 and cotton-producing countries in Africa, mainly Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad and Mali, and other developing countries, can begin to export cotton duty-free.
The agreement also mandates developed countries to prohibit cotton export subsidies immediately and for developing countries to do so at a later date.
According to the Nairobi WTO declaration signed by all the 162 trade ministers, all cotton subsidies to the developed and developing countries are to be stopped in 2017.
