agro food trade and flows
Answers
According to the standard FAO definition, agreed at the 1996 World Food Summit, food security requires that people can only be considered as food secure when sufficient food is available, they have access to food, it is well utilised (that is, food consumption converts into improved nutritional outcomes) and that all these three dimensions remain stable over time. While on balance trade improves each of the four dimensions of food security for a country overall, there is a mixture of positive and negative effects for different groups within any economy resulting from trade openness, which may differ across each dimension and across countries.
The main objective of this workshop, organised jointly by the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture (ATPC) and the OECD and in co-operation with other international organisations, will be to discuss policy options to enhance positive and minimise potential negative implications of trade openness on food security in view of the evolving agricultural markets and experiences of various countries. It will bring together Chinese policy makers, agricultural policy researchers, representatives of the OECD Secretariat and of other international organisations as well as of OECD member countries.