It has the world's largest freshwater supplies and a huge amount of rich farmland, which has enabled it to become a major agricultural exporter.

However, several predominantly agricultural exporters and oil importers saw deterioration in their terms of trade and for a number of countries, these shocks compromised their relatively stable economies.

Both countries are agricultural exporters, and advocate for the reduction and reform of farm subsidies.

Already, there has been considerable interest by regional manufacturers, agricultural exporters and other traders in the start-up of the service.