Special and Differential Treatment for Agriculture : Africa's Requirements from Special Safeguards and Special Products

The 1 August 2004 Framework Agreement stated that developing countries would have access to a Special Safeguard Mechanism and Special Products designation as part of special and differential treatment within a new WTO Doha Round agricultural agreement. This was confirmed in the Ministerial Declaration following the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial in December 2005. This paper discusses the potential usefulness of these instruments for the six programme countries of Development Cooperation Ireland, and what further research is desirable to help countries define them in a way that maximises their usefulness