USAID LAC Trade Update - February 2005
A. Updates
1. New USAID Agriculture and Anti-Corruption Strategies
Agriculture -- USAID recently released a
new agriculture strategy that concluded that agricultural
development in LAC countries is a “strategic priority”
for the agency.
The strategy is intended to as guide USAID Missions to develop
agricultural plans and programs. The strategy focuses on four
themes that seek to underscore a new emphasis on linking agricultural
products to domestic, regional and international markets as
well as to use of modern management tools.
The four broad themes are as follows:
- Expand trade opportunities and improve level
of skills -- This includes helping to foster sound
environmental policy, promoting strong governance and institutions,
and assisting producers and rural industries to focus on
nutritious foods;
- Expand long term solutions -- This includes
restoring land, water and forest
resources, developing renewable energy sources and strengthening
local levels of
management skills;
- Support countries to adopt innovations in science
and technologies -- This
includes use of public-private partnerships and collaborative
networks of specialists; and
- Strengthen training – This includes tailoring
educational efforts to women and
girls as well as expanding channels of communication among
rural farmers. This
training is intended to help them receive and manage innovative
agricultural
information and more easily assimilate into a global food,
feed and fiber systems.
Anti-Corruption – After assessing
USAID anti-corruption programs over the past
decade, the agency has developed a new strategy on this issue.
Its four main components are to:
- Expand knowledge on the issue;
- Confront both grand and administrative corruption;
- Deploy resources to fight corruption; and
- Apply goals and programs across all agency work.
USAID is exploring the establishment of an agency-wide task
force on the issue.
2. Trade Updates
World Trade Rules on Idaho Potatoes and Parma Hams
-- The World Trade
Organization (WTO) in December ruled that Idaho potatoes,
Parma hams or
Florida oranges could be marketed internationally with their
own regional identifications. The case stems from European
Union (EU) regulations that called into question the
protections of specific products’ geographic indicators
(e.g. Idaho, Parma, Florida) based on separate US/EU trademark
and regulator systems.
The WTO ruled that the EU regulations could impede protections
of non-EU products
and that the present EU regulations would not be able to prevent
confusion over names of similar geographic indicators –
often resulting from linguistic variations that are similar
to European trademarks.
Commercialized Biotech and Genetically Modified Crops
Grew in 2004 -- The
global area of genetically modified crops grew at a rate of
20 percent in 2004, according to a preview report by the Acquisition
of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). This compares with a
growth rate of 15 percent during the previous year.
Approximately 8.25 million farmers grew genetically modified
crops in 17 countries with
farmers in developing countries noting a 90 percent increase.
Three LAC region countries were among the largest growers
of modified crops as
follows: US (59 percent), Argentina (20 percent), Canada (six
percent), Brazil (six
percent), China (five percent), and Paraguay (two percent).
Also growing modified
crops in lesser amounts in the LAC region are Uruguay, Mexico,
Colombia and
Honduras.
3. Trade Resources
A number of trade capacity building reports have become
available. Several are listed
with Internet links below:
- Doing
Business with the Poor: A Field Guide. World Business
Council for Sustainable Development, 2004 (pdf, 1.47MB)
- An
Evaluation of Trade Capacity Building Programs: Overview.
USAID, Oct 2004. (pdf, 268KB)
- Least
Developed Countries Report 2004: Linking International Trade
with Poverty
Reduction. United Nations Conference on Trade &
Development.
- 2005
Economic Freedom Index. Heritage Foundation
- Predicting
the Poverty Impacts of Trade Reform. World Bank, 2004.
(pdf, 248KB)
- Working
Conditions and Labor Rights in Export Processing Zones.
International Conference of Free Trade Unions, 2004. (pdf,
252KB)
- Corporate
Social Responsibility. World Bank, 2003.
- Guatemala:
Supermarkets & Farmers. (New York Times, Dec 28.
2004)
4. Upcoming Events
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