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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.