Even in less stressful times, agriculture talks at the WTO tend to be difficult and highly emotional. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how important fundamental questions regarding food and health are to all of us. Complicating the situation have been developments such as the war in Ukraine and droughts resulting from climate change, both which are contributing to immediate and longer-term concerns about food insecurity.

Listen to Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta of Costa Rica, Chair of the agriculture negotiations at the WTO and Ulla Kask, agriculture expert at the WTO Secretariat, decipher the issues addressed in the MC12 Ministerial Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity and the Ministerial Decision not to impose export restrictions on foodstuffs purchased for humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme.