Windhoek High-Level Ministerial Declaration on African Agriculture in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges, Making a Sustainable Green Revolution, 9-10 February 2009

“24. We undertake to further the process of African regional trade in order to promote the modernization of agriculture by opening up new markets and realizing scale economies in agricultural input production.”

“19. We acknowledge the importance of the export of agriculture products for Africa’s economic growth as agriculture plays pivotal role in the continent’s overall economy. We are concerned by the high dependence on limited number of export commodities, weak technological capacities, inadequate legal and regulatory institutional frameworks and insufficient transport, storage and marketing infrastructure, and policy-induced constraints resulting from trade and policies that are biased against exports of agricultural products.

20. We are concerned that Africa’s share of international trade is only 2 per cent, and it’s likely to further decrease as result of the current global economic crisis. We underline the important role that trade plays in promoting economic growth. We stress the need to promote Africa’s international trade, including through regional integration and greater integration into the global economy and fulfillment of the commitment to a well-functioning, universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system which promotes sustainable development. We commit to redoubling our efforts towards the reinvigoration of the multilateral trade negotiations and to achieve a development-oriented outcome of the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. We call for stronger national action and international support to build domestic productive competitive export supply capacities, as well as trade support, infrastructure and institutions in African countries.”