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TWN
Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture
Trade: WTO retreat on agriculture for whom? Geneva, 17 Oct (D. Ravi Kanth) -- The World Trade Organization's Director-General seems to be attenuating the WTO rule-book by allegedly embarking on issues that are not part of the core/unfinished ministerial mandates in a rules-based, inter-governmental, and member-driven trade body, said people familiar with the development. The WTO DG Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's alleged attempts to turn the organization into a "Davos-type" of body holding panel discussions instead of servicing hard trade negotiations as set out in the Marrakesh Agreement has been a source of grave concern, said people, referring to the latest agriculture retreat to be held at the WTO headquarters on 24 October. Earlier, the retreat was scheduled to be held at the Evian Hilton Hotel in France, but due to concerns raised by members, including budgetary constraints, the DG appears to have changed her mind, said a developing country member, who preferred not to be quoted. The discussants scheduled to take part in several panel sessions at the retreat are going to be dominated by experts from the major Northern countries, while there is none participating from the developing countries. Worse still, there is no gender balance in choosing the discussants, as most of the speakers will be men, said people, who preferred not to be quoted. AGRICULTURE RETREAT In an email sent to members on 13 October, seen by the SUNS, the upcoming agriculture retreat would focus on several themes of "contemporary challenges" in the food and agriculture sector but not on what ought to be the agriculture work program and the way forward for rejuvenating the discussions, which the WTO's 12th ministerial conference (MC12) held in Geneva in June singularly failed to agree on. During the morning session on 24 October, a senior official from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Maximo Torero, will discuss "Contemporary Challenges in the Food and Agriculture Sector." It will be followed by an academic, Prof Quentin Grafton of Australia National University, who will inform the participants about "Water Risks Today and into the Future and Impact on Food Security." Subsequently, another academic, Prof Johan Rockstrom from Sweden's Stockholm University, will enlighten members on "The Impact of Climate Change on the Agricultural Sector". The morning session will end with a talk by World Bank Vice-President, Mr Jurgen Vogle, on "Policy Response to Address Challenges in Agriculture." Subsequently, there will be a discussion on "how should the WTO approach agriculture?" Besides, there will be a discussion before the lunch break focusing on "Addressing Food Security for the Future" by Mr. David Laborde from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), as well as on "Reforming WTO Agriculture Trade Rules in Light of Contemporary Challenges," by former Doha agriculture negotiating chair, Ambassador Vangelis Vitalis of New Zealand. After a few breakout sessions, the DG will conclude the meeting with "main takeaways and way forward." Interestingly, several issues that are going to be discussed at the retreat have apparently been discussed at the recent meeting of the Cairns Group of farm-exporting countries. According to several people, the Cairns Group meeting appears to have failed to bring about any convergence among the industrialized countries of the group, and the main farm and cattle producers of South American countries in the group, said one Cairns Group member, who asked not to be quoted. More importantly, the DG, who is linking everything with climate change and sustainability, according to several members, appears to be glossing over her responsibilities as stated in paragraph 4 of Article VI of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. Paragraph 4 of Article VI states: "The responsibilities of the Director-General and of the staff of the Secretariat shall be exclusively international in character. In the discharge of their duties, the Director-General and the staff of the Secretariat shall not seek or accept instructions from any government or any other authority external to the WTO. They shall refrain from any action which might adversely reflect on their position as international officials. The Members of the WTO shall respect the international character of the responsibilities of the Director-General and of the staff of the Secretariat and shall not seek to influence them in the discharge of their duties." Instead of pursuing the agenda decided by trade ministers at the WTO's ministerial conferences, including the mandated/unfinished issues, the DG is apparently adopting a "top-down" approach by deciding issues without prior discussion with members, which highlights the alleged attempts at chipping away at the foundational agreement of the trade body, said a member, who preferred not to be identified. At the retreat, the DG could have focused on how to accelerate the agriculture negotiations on the mandated issues such as the permanent solution for public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security that addresses the problem of food insecurity, and the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for developing countries, said another member, who asked not to be quoted. At a time when the WTO's relevance is being challenged due to the worsening poly-crises, as illustrated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its Trade and Development Report (TDR) 2022, the DG wants to aggressively pursue the North's climate change agenda that appears to be inconsistent with the WTO rule-book, the member said. WTO & CLIMATE CHANGE In a paper commissioned by the European Union, Prof Steve Charnovitz of George Washington University had argued that reassigning "new environment topics" to the WTO may prove "counterproductive", cautioning the EU and the United States as well as their allies that the "WTO should not be perceived as an institution capable of solving important non-trade problems." (See SUNS #9496 dated 20 January 2022). The report issued by Prof Charnovitz said that pursuing trade and environment issues at the WTO would be harmful to developing countries. The policy brief, titled "A Better Transatlantic Agenda on Trade and Environment", argued that "there is little evidence supporting the optimistic view that reassigning new environmental topics will succeed," and they may prove "counterproductive". Commissioned with the support of the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union and Carlton University, the seven-page report said that even though the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) contains certain environmental items such as improving market access for environmental goods and services as well as fisheries subsidies, the recent spate of controversial Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) to expand the WTO's environmental agenda seem to have both positive and negative features. Last month, a ministerial statement was issued by the EU and several other members endorsing the JSI on "trade and environmental sustainability structured discussions". In addition, the EU along with New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland among others issued a ministerial statement on the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies. Furthermore, the EU along with the Ottawa Group members led by Canada and some developing countries issued a ministerial statement on an "informal dialogue on plastic pollution and environmentally sustainable plastics trade." While "effective global action on climate change, fisheries, and plastics are all worthy goals for global governance," on the negative side, "one can doubt realistically that the WTO will be able to make a material contribution," Prof Charnovitz argued. Further, "there is little evidence supporting the optimistic view that reassigning new environmental topics to the WTO will succeed," he said, adding that "more likely, such allocation of jurisdiction to the WTO would prove counterproductive." More importantly, the "WTO should not be perceived as an institution capable of solving important non-trade problems," said Prof Charnovitz, arguing that the WTO must address what he called the "UPID" problems - "unilateralism, protectionism, isolationism, and discrimination." Meanwhile, in her meeting with the US Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai in Washington DC on 14 October, the DG and the USTR discussed several issues such as fisheries subsidies, the 1998 moratorium on levying customs duties on electronic transmissions, and WTO reform, according to a press release put out by the Office of the USTR. Yet, there was no mention of agriculture, as the US remains opposed to the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security and the SSM. In short, the WTO appears to be increasingly in uncharted waters. +
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