Proceedings of the 13 th Meeting of the
COMCEC Agriculture Working Group
5
Introduction
The 13th Meeting of the COMCEC Agriculture Working Group was held on February 21st, 2019 in
Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies to Promote Intra-OIC
Agricultural Trade”.
The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 18 Member States which have notified their
focal points for the Agriculture Working Group. Representatives of COMCEC Coordination Office,
SESRIC, SMIIC, Turkish Exporters Assembly and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have also
attended the Meeting. 1
At the outset, the representative of the COMCEC Coordination Office (CCO) made a presentation on
“COMCEC Agriculture Outlook 2018”. During the presentation, the participants were informed
about the general overview of the agriculture sector in the OIC Member Countries through focusing
on macro agricultural indicators.
Afterwards, the Meeting considered the research report titled “Reviewing Agricultural Trade
Policies to Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade” which was commissioned specifically for the 13th
Meeting with a view to enriching the discussions.
The representatives of the Member States have shared their experiences, achievements and
challenges in agricultural trade policies to promote intra-OIC agricultural trade. The participants
had the chance to discuss the policy options for enhancing the cooperation in this important field
in a moderation session. The Room Document based on the findings of the research report
submitted to the Agriculture Working Group Meeting and the answers of the Member Countries to
the policy questions sent to the Member States by the CCO were the main inputs for the discussions
during moderation session. As an outcome, the Meeting has agreed on a set of policy
recommendations on agricultural trade policies to promote intra-OIC agricultural trade.
The efforts exerted by the private sector as well as international institutions on agricultural trade
policies were also reflected in the discussions.
1 The list of participants is attached as Annex 1.