At FAO, the Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP)

This week, the effects of war, conflict, climate change and export restrictions on global agrifood trade were on the agenda of the Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP), the oldest Committee of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome. The impact of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on global food security were at the centre of our discussions. As Ambassador of the European Union to the UN in Rome, Martin Selmayr spoke and negotiated together with his team and EU Agri on behalf of the EU and its 27 Member States, with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine aligning with the EU positions.

Following EU coordination to ensure unity, the EU spoke up for transparent and predictable trade in agrifood and for upholding WTO rules. We also underlined the importance of FAO's Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), to which the EU and its Member States strongly contribute.

We also insisted that climate variability resulting from climate change is considered a key reason for continued uncertainty affecting global agrifood commodity markets. At a CPP side event, we furthermore discussed a new FAO study on the effects of agricultural environment-related provisions on regional trade agreements. The study finds that the inclusion of such provisions does not hinder overall trade flows; in fact, agricultural trade increases between countries with more such environment-related clauses. Our deliberations were very efficiently chaired by Krisztina Bende, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in Rome and CCP Chairperson.