In the WTO, Norway plays an active role in the review and implementation of current rules and commitments through the regular Committee on Agriculture, and in the continuation of the reform programme through the agriculture negotiations.
In the agriculture negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda, Norway is aligned with other net importing countries in the G10 – which also includes Switzerland, Japan, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei, Mauritius, Liechtenstein, Israel, and Iceland. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has summarised Norway’s positions:
“While our agriculture may be small in its economic share, agriculture is vital in many other respects beyond food production, employment, economics and environment, not the least by constituting the spinal cord of our rural communities. This is why we need a result that is not tailored along the red lines of somebody else, but a package that will enable us to maintain a viable agricultural sector all throughout our long-stretched country.” (21 July 2008)
In both the regular committee and in negotiations, Norway emphasises a commitment to transparency, respect for the multilateral rules based system and the need to accommodate legitimate concerns of all members.