Chairs of WTO Doha bodies report on key issues at TNC

The TNC also heard reports by the chairpersons of the different areas of negotiations on the state of play of the talks.

by Kanaga Raja

GENEVA: After a hiatus of almost two years, an informal meeting of the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) was finally held on 25 July, at which the chairs of the various negotiating bodies under the Doha work programme reported on their recent consultations on the key issues in the run-up to the eleventh Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires this December.

Previously, during the two years when no TNC meeting had been convened, the chairs had given their reports at informal heads-of-delegation (HoD) meetings.

The reports by the chairs at the TNC were preceded by some remarks by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo.

Following the remarks by the DG and the chairs’ reports, a number of delegations took the floor, with many developing countries highlighting the importance of advancing on all the Doha issues and calling for outcomes on public stockholding for food security purposes and on the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) to be delivered, as mandated, at MC11 (see preceding article).

Energized

According to trade officials, DG Azevedo, also the chair of the TNC, took the floor at the start of the informal TNC meeting, and noted that there were two TNC meetings in 2014 and 2015 when members looked at the post-Bali work programme.

He said that the process now has been energized and there has been a very thorough and frank discussion going on.

He said that the format of the informal HoD meetings led to more frank discussion and also made the General Council more expeditious.

The DG explained that the TNC meeting on 25 July would focus on TNC-specific activities including the reports of the eight negotiating group chairs, while the informal HoD meeting that followed would be a continuation of the transparency exercise where the DG gives an overview of activities.

The activities of these two meetings would be reflected under two agenda items of the General Council meeting on 26 July. It was up to delegations whether they took the floor at the TNC or the HoD, or both.

The DG then spoke about his recent activities, saying that he had visited a number of capitals and met with a number of stakeholders.

In all of his travels, he said, he had stressed the need for progress on the Doha issues and the importance of obtaining an outcome at Buenos Aires.

He met with the negotiating group chairs on 1 June and also on 24 July. He said there is a need to work with greater urgency to advance these issues. In fact, there is a need for greater urgency right across the board in terms of all the issues.

The DG welcomed the increase in activity on the development issues as well as in agriculture. He noted that there had been 18 submissions on agriculture tabled since the beginning of the year. In the last week, there were eight submissions focusing on domestic support, the SSM and public stockholding.

Submissions had also been received on fisheries subsidies and anti-dumping and horizontal subsidies. He also mentioned a proposal on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and the 10 agreement-specific proposals on special and differential treatment (SDT) tabled by the G90 group of developing countries.

Azevedo said it was positive that members were putting forward these more detailed texts that were leading to these discussions. This was welcome but a great deal of work needed to be done.

He noted that when members come back (from the summer recess) in September, there will only be 14 weeks remaining till MC11, and there is a need to increase the intensity of the work and for members to use the month of August to work with capitals.

He also said that members need to be realistic about what they can do by the Buenos Aires ministerial meeting. As with the previous Bali and Nairobi conferences, there is a need to do what is possible to make Buenos Aires a success.

According to trade officials, the chair of the Special Session of the WTO Agriculture Committee, Ambassador Stephen Karau of Kenya, reported that he has had 35 bilateral meetings.

The Special Session of the Committee met on 1 June and there were two dedicated sessions on public stockholding and the SSM.

The chair said that the topics that were taken up have been public stockholding, domestic support and the SSM.

There has also been a proposal on agricultural market access put forward by Paraguay and Peru, as well as a proposal on export restrictions put forward by Singapore.

There has also been some discussion on export competition, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues and on cotton.

The chair said that public stockholding for food security purposes is one of the priority issues. The gaps that remain are broadly the same, he said. There has been invigorated engagement but there is homework for the members to do.

He said domestic support is another priority issue, noting that there have been five more submissions on domestic support.

Most members are supportive of the issue of cotton, but a couple of members are pessimistic, taking into account the overall negotiating prospects for dealing with overall domestic support issues.

According to the chair, many members said that there needs to be a more effective way to focus on getting an agreement on trade-distorting domestic support and that would facilitate an agreement on cotton.

On agricultural market access, the chair reported that there are diverging views on the likelihood of an outcome. Some say that there may be incremental progress before MC11 and then a post-Buenos Aires work programme. Others say that the focus should be on updating information that is linked to market access to lay the groundwork for a work programme after Buenos Aires.

On the SSM, the chair said that the discussions have not progressed and there is no obvious way forward by MC11. The proponents continue to say that the SSM is essential and workable but others say that this is not possible without an agreement on market access.

On export restrictions, the chair said there is broad interest and support for the transparency provisions that were suggested in the paper by Singapore, and many see this as a basis for moving forward. But others say they want more on transparency while some others say that this could be an administrative burden for them.

On export competition, the chair reported that there is no expectation for a deliverable on this issue.

On SPS, the chair said there were two members that wanted to discuss this issue and they are reflecting on how to proceed.

Many delegations say that an outcome on subsidies by MC11 is crucial, while others say that it is vital to have something on public stockholding. And others think that a partial deal is still possible, but yet others have expressed very strong doubts that agreement on any of these areas can come to fruition.

The chair said there is a large body of the membership that say that whatever the outcome in Buenos Aires, there is a need to ensure a post-Buenos Aires work programme.

He said that in the autumn, he will begin even more intensive negotiations in an effort to try and find the way forward.

Rules proposals

The chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules, Ambassador Wayne McCook of Jamaica, reported that since the last time members met in May, there have been seven technical proposals put forward. All of these proposals refer to Target 14.6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2020 deadline. They all focus on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and all talk about the need for disciplines in areas where there is overfishing. The proposals also speak of achieving an outcome by MC11.

The chair said that all of the concept papers have now been converted into legal texts and that he will circulate a matrix which will include all of these textual proposals. After the summer break, there will be an intensive programme of engagement based on this matrix.

On trade remedies, he noted that a proposal was put forward by China, which said that it has listened to the concerns of members and is going to broaden the scope of what is being offered.

The chair said there is also a conceptual paper on transparency with respect to horizontal subsidies.

All members have said that each of these areas should be taken up on its own merits without linkages or sequences, he said, adding that he was heartened by this.

The chair of the services negotiations, Ambassador Hector Marcelo Cima of Argentina, reported that the areas that have been taken up include domestic regulation, trade facilitation in services and e-commerce.

He said that domestic regulation is the most advanced issue. Members have had the most in-depth discussion in terms of technical standards, gender equity, development and LDCs.

Some members questioned the need for disciplines on domestic regulation but many others have said that this is important for transparency. The question now is in trying to determine the scope and detail of the proposals.

According to the chair, some other members have been concerned that this might in some way impinge on their right to regulate. So it is up to the proponents to work with the others to try and win them over and get them going forward.

On India’s proposal on trade facilitation in services, the chair said that there have been very substantive discussions on this paper.

On e-commerce, he said that the EU proposal on e-signatures, e-contracts, spam and consumer protection has attracted a lot of attention. Different views have been expressed. Some believe that the mandate for e-commerce should be limited to discussions about whether the moratorium on duties on e-commerce transactions is rolled over or made permanent. Others want to see a broader range of discussions, he added.

On market access in services, the chair said that no concrete proposals have been made at this stage.

Special and differential treatment

The chair of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development, Ambassador Tan Yee Woan of Singapore, reported on the discussion pertaining to the G90 proposal on the 10 agreement-specific proposals on SDT. Some were of the view that this would be a carve-out and are not in favour, while others say that it is essential because of the need to recognize the importance of SDT for developing countries.

The chair of the NAMA negotiations, Ambassador Didier Chambovey of Switzerland, spoke on the proposal by the EU, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong-China and Singapore on transparency in regulatory measures, notably on SPS measures and technical barriers to trade.

The opponents to the proposal said that there is a heavy administrative burden vis-a-vis the proposal and it might impinge on the right to regulate. Those who are skeptical said that there is also no common definition on what is a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), and how this is going to help SMEs in developing countries. They also do not see how this relates to the mandate of the NAMA negotiating group, and said that there is a need for consensus on negotiating this issue, and there is none at the moment. They further said that time is too short (to the Buenos Aires meeting) and these transparency issues on SPS and TBT were taken up in the respective committees.

The chair recommended that the co-sponsors meet with the members that have expressed concern and see what can be done in moving forward.

The chair of the TRIPS Council in Special Session, Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, underlined the need for more active consultation. At the moment, there is very little likelihood of an outcome pertaining to the register of geographical indications of origin for wines and spirits. There is the habitual divide over the extent of the mandate. He said that after the summer break, he will hold meetings, but at this stage he has very little to report.

The chair of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Environment, Ambassador Syed Tauqir Shah of Pakistan, reported that there has been very little movement on the three areas that pertain to closer engagement between the WTO and the environmental groupings. One of these areas is on removing the barriers to trade in goods and services. Here too that has been somewhat overtaken by the environmental goods negotiations. There is not much progress to report there.

The chair of the Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body, Ambassador Coly Seck of Senegal, said that there were two issues taken up – one was on strictly confidential information and the other was on sequencing. He said that there will be a stocktaking after the summer break. It is not clear at this stage whether there will be an outcome on any of these issues.

The chair of the upcoming MC11, Minister Susana Malcorra of Argentina, said the importance of the multilateral trading system and its values and integrity should be underscored and strengthened. She said that she will spare no efforts trying to bring about a success in Buenos Aires.

She expressed concern about the work that is before the members and said that after the summer break there is no time to spare.

These are challenging times, she said, noting that globalization and open trade have been blamed by some for job losses and beyond this, the citizens feel distanced from the leadership and from international organizations like the WTO and they don’t fully understand or appreciate the impact of the WTO on their lives.

The minister said the SDGs have set the tone for the work. There is a need to find common ground and build bridges and not walls. The 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Conference showed what can be done and there is a need to build on this to ensure progress.

She said she understood the importance of discussing the Doha issues. For Argentina, the views of farmers are extremely important. But there are other delegations who want to talk about 21st- century issues and these are important for the WTO to remain relevant as well. There is a need to keep up with the times and this is absolutely essential, she added.

A lack of success in Buenos Aires is not an option, the minister underlined. (SUNS8511)                                            p