Increasing the Resilience of the Food Systems
In Islamic States in Face of Future Food Crises
152
6.6. Trade Cooperation
The OIC is a net importer of food, with a trade gap of $67 billion in 2018, and with intra -OIC
trade accounting for only 18% of total OIC food imports.593 Limited intra-OIC trade has been in
large part due to high barriers betweenmember countries, with only limited initiatives to date
to remove such barriers.
Pushing broader cooperation between member countries, through bilateral trade agreements
and strategic agreements involving private sector entities, is vital to boosting the strengt h of
food systems across the OIC.
Figure 43: Roadmap for Commercializing Food Projects Across the OIC
Source: DinarStandard Analysis
The OIC has the opportunity to review its commitment to lifting trade barriers.
Tariffs applied by OIC members are higher than the WTO average for the majority of OIC
countries, in particular for agricultural products. Of the 115 Regional Trade Agreements signed
by OIC member states by October 2018, most are bilateral and concluded with the developed
countries.594 The European Common Customs Union is an obvious analog for such an agreement.
Under the framework of the existing Trade Preferential System, further exploring trade
liberalization between member states would strengthen the OIC-wide food system and, in
particular, would reduce the risk of food crises in B1 and B2-classified member countries.
Supplementing a government-led, OIC-wide trade agreement, is a policy to foster targeted
cooperation between member countries in producing particular products, which will
require strong cooperation with the private sector
593 ITC Trademap.
594 “COMCEC Trade Outlook”. 201