Yaoundé & Bern, 24 March 2026 – As trade ministers gather in Cameroon for the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) this week, a new international initiative is urging governments to confront an increasingly urgent question: what comes next if today’s agricultural trade rules can no longer deliver?
Amidst war, worsening climate change indicators, and growing geo-economic mistrust, the old ways of governing trade are failing to meet today’s needs and challenges.
A new global trade initiative offers a fresh vision for the way forward. Focusing on agriculture, the “Agreement on Agriculture Re-Imagined” (AoA ReI) initiative is urging Ministers and journalists to confront a difficult question: What comes next if the current global trading system can no longer deliver?
AoA ReI offers a blueprint for a new framework, in the form of a Model Treaty on Agriculture Trade for Sustainable Food Systems. The Model Treaty is based on the observation that the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) which for three decades has provided the legal backbone of global farm trade rules, is no longer fit for purpose.
The Model Treaty’s goal goes beyond incremental reform of existing WTO rules. Instead, it addresses what may well be the defining question on the international economic agenda: the future shape of international trade governance.
“Incremental reform will not suffice to meet the scale of the challenge,” says Caroline Dommen, co-leader of the AoA ReI. “Our initiative proposes a set of fundamentally new approaches, to encourage the world to think boldly and dare to articulate a different framework for governing international trade.”
Negotiations on reform have repeatedly stalled, including at the WTO’s last Ministerial Conference, in 2024, where members failed to reach consensus despite intense efforts. Deep divisions between major agricultural exporters, emerging economies and food-importing countries have repeatedly blocked progress on key issues such as domestic support, public stockholding for food security and export restrictions. With MC14 approaching, trade observers expect Ministers to struggle once again to bridge these divides.
“The WTO Agreement on Agriculture was designed for a different era,” says Sophia Murphy, Executive Director of the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy and AoA ReI co-leader. “Today’s food systems face climate instability, biodiversity loss, supply chain shocks and deep inequalities among farmers and countries. Yet the rules governing agricultural trade still prioritize market expansion over resilience, sustainability and food security.”
"Trade is important but must be complementary to local food production" adds initiative co-leader Lisa Buergi Bonanomi.
“If the current framework continues to fail, the world cannot afford a policy vacuum in global agricultural trade,” says Biswajit Dhar, who is part of the initiative. “We need to start imagining – and discussing – the rules that will govern the next system.”
The proposed Model Treaty aims to stimulate that discussion by outlining principles for agricultural trade that prioritize sustainable food systems, equitable economic outcomes and alignment with international human rights and development goals.
As trade Ministers meet in Yaoundé searching for agreement, the AoA Re-Imagined initiative suggests that the more urgent task may be preparing for what comes after.
Presentation in Yaoundé:
Planning to attend MC14? Come and learn about the AoA Re-Imagined Model Treaty in person at 2pm on Friday March 27 at the Trade + Sustainability Hub, Hilton Yaoundé Hotel Room C.
Register for the in-person session here.
About the Agreement on Agriculture Re-Imagined:
The AoA Re-Imagined initiative is led by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). It has gathered experts from across the Global South and North to propose a Model Treaty on Agricultural Trade for Sustainable Food Systems.
Read the Draft Model Treaty here
View the 4-page visual summary here
Media contacts:
Email: aoarei[at]iatp.org
Download a PDF of the release here.
