Sandra Rios (Centro de Estudos de Integração e Desenvolvimento) presented the main findings of a regional study that looked at food safety concerns within Africa, Latin America and Asia. Her presentation highlighted that in the recent food crisis, many national responses to food security were myopic in nature, particularly in their efforts to address the immediate high food price concerns. This resulted in the implementation of protectionist policies to gain self-sufficiency. Such measures are in opposition to long-term solutions that foster investment and infrastructure development. Such solutions require institutional coordination and until now regional policy dimensions had not played a role in setting policy responses to food security concerns.

Martin Roy (WTO) highlighted that this indeed was an important research area as everything between production and consumption of agricultural products involves services. He indicated that while the relationship between the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and agriculture is not a key issue in the negotiations, a plurilateral request has been made in the negotiations in this regard.

Wamkele Mene (Permanent Mission of South Africa to the WTO) shared the experience of the SADC region. He highlighted that Article 5 of the GATS allows countries to establish preferential trade agreements (PTAs) which may facilitate the improvement of services within regions and have a positive impact on food security. He indicated that regional trade sometimes results in trade distortions which would need to be managed. However in Southern Africa, the benefits of regionalisation had outweighed the costs, he said. He highlighted that the most immediate challenge in services trade linked to food security is the need to anchor the agricultural distribution services to an established regulatory institution.
Alexandra Chandra (International Institute for Sustainable Development) highlighted that this area remains under-researched within ASEAN. There is a commitment to both liberalize the services sector and improve food security cooperation. However, these initiatives remain compartmentalised and so there is a need to streamline these issues. He stated that a 2010 World Bank study indicated that in Indonesia the liberalization of services could increase food security by improving the transportation infrastructure. This would counter the problems arising from remote provinces that are characterised by lower integration and that experience high price volatility.