Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies
To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade
3
Rules of Origin Agreement, i.e. non-discrimination, predictability, transparency and
neutrality (Medalla and Lazaro, 2006).
 Reductions in tariffs applied to fellow member states in key product divisions and
products as identified in this report would be the most effective policy action to promote
intra-OIC agricultural trade since tariff protection in these products seem to be acting as
significant barriers against trade.
 A large fraction of exporter-importer pairs matched as potential partners for mutually
beneficial trade through the analysis in this report does not have trade agreements with
each other as yet. There is therefore significant room for improvement in trade
performance of, and associated benefits for, member countries through bilateral
agreements to be signed to cover the products identified in the analysis.
 Some agri-food products that are not subject to high tariff protection turned out to hold
a promise for increased trade within the OIC area due, probably, to the existence of non-
tariff barriers such as health and other standards. This implies that the OIC countries
should prioritize non-tariff measures related to standardization and certification issues.
An important area for policy intervention within this context is the creation of common
standards for Halal certification across the OIC. It is recommended that the work that
has completed under the SMIIC on Halal certification should be extended with a richer
understanding that aim at developing a unique OIC-wide Halal certificate that functions
as the European Economic Area’s CE marking.
 Since the OIC countries have comparatively large numbers of existing bilateral and
multilateral trade agreements with non-OIC countries, the scope for trade policy
harmonization within the OIC is quite limited. Still, there are potential gains from
acceleration of the implementation of the Trade Preferential System among the OIC
Member States (TPS-OIC). A customs union among the OIC countries that currently have
no external commitments to be violated would be the logical next step after the full
implementation of the TPS-OIC in the future.
 One important barrier before further increases in intra-OIC agricultural trade is the
degree of similarity between the geography, climate conditions and factor endowments
of the OIC countries. This implies that they face competition from each other in certain
agricultural products and in certain markets around the globe. For this reason, the OIC
countries should design and implement policies that aim product diversification,
trademarking, marketing strategies and advertising campaigns wherever possible.
 Incentivizing commercial cooperation and foreign direct investment in agriculture
within the OIC should be defended as a potentially important policy action by the
member countries. Since the OIC member countries generally differ in relative
abundance of land and natural resources and of financial funds and credit, businesses
should be encouraged to buy unused land to initiate agricultural production and exports
in fellow OIC countries.
 Non-commercial cooperation is another policy area where the OIC member countries
share technical expertise, skills, and capacity building regarding safety standards with
each other. More specifically, particular attention should be paid to policies, programs