Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies
To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade
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The SWOT analysis summarized in Table 5.1 focuses on (i) production (in general and with a
particular emphasis on technology), (ii) products (hygiene issues, organic products and
labeling), (iii) marketing (consumer behavior and distribution), and, finally, (iv) export potential
(access to new markets).
Table 5.1 SWOT Analysis for Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade (continued)
Export potential
(Access to new markets and potential for increasing intra-OIC
trade)
Strengths
 Shared borders by a large majority of member countries
 Cultural affinity
 Existing regional blocks such as ECOWAS involving OIC and non-OIC partners
together, or all-OIC arrangements such the Pan-Arab agreement
 Existing agricultural trade networks within the OIC with identified export and
import hubs
 Existing legal structure regarding the Trade Preferential System within the
OIC
Weaknesses
 Lack of experience in finding and entering new markets
 Intra-OIC competition in third party markets due to similarity of products
 Visa issues and other trade costs
Opportunities
 Increasing product variety
 Existence of products such as meat that are not subject to tariff protection
 Existence of potential trade achievable through tariff reductions and trade
agreements
 Existence of COMCEC/COMCEC Agriculture/Trade Working Group(s) as a
forum for regular contact
Threats
 Existence of trade agreements with non-OIC partners / membership in
regional blocks etc. involving neighboring countries that are not OIC members
Source: Authors.
5.3. Emerging Policy Recommendations
Formation of three Free Trade Areas for tariff-free trade in agricultural products in each
of the three regional divisions within the OIC would be a highly recommended policy to
pursue initially on the way to higher volumes of intra-OIC trade in agricultural products.
This initial step could then be followed by additional steps to form a larger, OIC-wide free
trade area, by merging all three regional free trade areas into one single FTA.
At first, such a policy proposal could seem problematic due to various existing regional trade
arrangements that include OIC member states, individually or in groups. However, multiple
memberships to different regional trade agreements already exist in a crisscross fashion,
creating the “spaghetti bowl” phenomenon in Bhagwati’s words (1995), especially in Africa. The
discriminating high tariffs applied by OICmember countries to other OICmembers are the result
of this phenomenon and prevent the increase of intra-OIC trade. The decision of the African
Union members in 2012, to establish a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017, could be
given as an example to the type of an FTA to be formed to boost intra-OIC trade in agricultural
products.