Proceedings of the 13 th Meeting of the
COMCEC Agriculture Working Group
32
Annex 4: The Policy Recommendations
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
13TH MEETING OF THE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP
The COMCEC Agriculture Working Group (AWG) has successfully held its 13 th Meeting on February 21st,
2019, in Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies to Promote Intra-OIC
Agricultural Trade.”
During the Meeting, AWG made deliberations on sound agricultural trade policies to promote intra-OIC
agricultural trade. Room Document, prepared in accordance with the main findings of the research
report conducted specifically for the 13th Meeting of AWG and the answers of the Member Countries to
the policy questions were the main input for the discussions. During the Meeting, the participants agreed
on the policy recommendations included in the Room Document. The existing document includes these
policy recommendations highlighted during the Meeting.
Policy Recommendations I: Promotion of Niche Agricultural Products and Halal Certification
through product diversification, trademarking, marketing strategies and advertising campaigns.
Rationale:
The OIC Member Countries face competition from each other in certain agricultural products and in
certain markets around the globe. This makes the promotion of intra-OIC agricultural trade a
particularly challenging issue. Trade facilitation policies, which range from product diversification and
trademarking to marketing strategies and advertising campaigns, need to be designed and implemented
in the member countries. More specifically, the OIC Member Countries need to promote the niche
agricultural products of their fellow OIC countries under a reciprocal understanding of benefits.
There exist key product groups that can be critical in promoting intra-OIC agricultural trade, but are not
subject to high tariff protection. For these products, standardization and certification issues are of prime
importance for the policy makers. As such, the process of establishing Halal certification for meat
products, across the OIC region is a critical policy dimension that could be used effectively to promote
intra-OIC agricultural trade in meat products. Halal certification issue also needs to be tackled within a
broader perspective of labelling, advertisement and standardization. In this respect, OIC Member
Countries need to think of efficient marketing and promotion strategies for niche and halal agricultural
products since producing these products requires special effort.
Policy Recommendations II: Promotion of Commercial Cooperation (e.g. enhancing agricultural
investments, removal of business visas, etc) and Non-Commercial Cooperation (e.g. sharing best
practices and technical expertise, developing safety standards, etc.) among the OIC Member
Countries in the areas related to agricultural trade.
Rationale:
The OIC member countries differ in relative abundance of land and natural resources and of financial
resources. This type of diversity is a source of complementarity and opens a window of opportunity in
commercial cooperation. There already exist some joint ventures among the OIC countries. Policies
should be designed and implemented to incentivize commercial cooperation among the OIC member
countries in the field of agricultural investment as it directly increases trade among at least two OIC
member countries. Removal of business visas, for instance, may be a concrete policy action that could
contribute to commercial cooperation.
Non-commercial cooperation among the OIC member countries in terms of technical expertise, skills,
and safety standards would also facilitate intra-OIC trade in agricultural products. Naturally, the OIC
member countries have a diverse set of safety standards, market information systems, market
institutions and human capital stocks. For this reason, the OIC member countries should pay particular