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.
Elimination of subsidies
The decision on cotton export subsidies was part of an overall agricultural commitment to eliminate subsidies for farm exports.