|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Jun21/09) Geneva, 17 Jun (D. Ravi Kanth) – The new Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Ms Rebeca Grynspan, has set out her priorities by singularly focusing on increased access to vaccines and “fiscal space” for the developing countries to overcome the worsening COVID-19 health crisis as well as the deepening economic crisis. A trade forum organized by UNCTAD on “Towards a Green and Inclusive Recovery” on 14-16 June has brought a breath of fresh air to UNCTAD’s global priorities when the new UNCTAD SG specifically underscored the need for reallocating Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to the developing countries which need them urgently amidst this pandemic, said people familiar with the deliberations of the two-day meeting. Given the concern that UNCTAD was moving towards embracing the developed country priorities during the past four years, Ms Grynspan seemed to have brought about a pause by suggesting that UNCTAD must be people- centric, particularly in developing countries for which the organization was created in 1964, said those familiar with the developments. Her priorities for resolving the COVID-19 health crisis through urgent and equitable vaccination across all countries, particularly the developing and least developed countries, and financing for “building back better” in developing countries must be addressed through the creation of new SDRs, said people, who asked not to be quoted. Concurring with last year’s UNCTAD Trade and Development Report, Ms Grynspan mentioned that we should not make the same mistakes that were made in the financial crisis post-2008. INDIA’S TRADE MINISTER At the meeting, the first speaker, Mr Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry of India, said vaccination to resolve the health crisis and help developing countries to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic must be an urgent priority. Mr Goyal called for text-based negotiations on the TRIPS waiver to be concluded at the WTO without delay, suggesting that it is a critical component for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. In a counter to what seemed like the closely aligned positions of the WTO Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala and the European Union trade commissioner Mr Valdis Dombrovskis on the issue of trade and environment at the meeting, the Indian trade minister said that we cannot “prioritize the developed country positions” when several unresolved issues have so far not been addressed. The WTO, he said, must address the “asymmetrical” farm subsidies as well as conclude an agreement on a permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security. Mr Goyal also underlined that it is not correct to use trade to extract environmental concessions. He said that India has adopted most of its commitments in the Paris climate change agreement, suggesting that “green” protectionist measures must be avoided. THE WTO DIRECTOR-GENERAL Also at the meeting, it was rather unusual to hear an open declaration of support by the EU trade commissioner Mr Dombrovskis with the WTO DG’s position on trade and environment and other priorities as well as Ms Ngozi’s support for the EU’s initiatives on this controversial issue. In line with the proposals submitted by many developed countries at the WTO such as the EU, the US, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom aimed at liberalizing trade in environmental goods and services, the WTO DG identified “Trade and Environment” as one of the priority areas for the WTO. She hopes to get a strong statement in this area at the upcoming WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), especially focusing on an agreement on environmental goods and services. She further emphasized the need to work with the private sector in the health sector. The WTO DG’s views on trade and environment were reinforced by the EU trade commissioner, who went further to emphasis the need for mainstreaming environment in the WTO negotiations. He stated that this can be done either by a ministerial statement, or a joint statement from like-minded countries, on trade and environment, at MC12. According to Mr Dombrovskis, “empowering the WTO with a real climate agenda is an important priority”. He said that MC12 must issue a strong statement on starting negotiations on trade and environment. UNCTAD’s Acting Secretary-General, Ms Isabelle Durant, appeared to wholeheartedly support the views of both the EU trade commissioner as well as the WTO DG on mainstreaming environment in the trade negotiations. She pointed out that “the word “trade” does not appear once in the Paris Agreement” and that there is a need for “trade policy that helps (in) decoupling prosperity from CO2 emissions”. She offered full support to the WTO in its progress on the trade and environment agenda. In contrast, Mr Goyal, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, emphasized the need “to decouple trade policy from green goals”. He pointed out that trade policy should aim at being more inclusive for sustainable growth while the UNFCCC should focus on getting the countries to fulfil their climate commitments. Climate justice should be protected but policy space should be given to developing countries while the developed countries should reconsider their pattern of consumption and focus on a sustainable lifestyle. He highlighted that India could play a major role as the vaccine supplier to the world if the supply lines are kept open by efforts made at the WTO and the G7. He also shared India’s initiatives in the areas of clean growth and healthcare. However, he emphasized that although “we want big outcomes from MC12, we cannot prioritize only the agenda of the developed world, we also have to address issues that have been long-pending like the asymmetries in agricultural subsidies, [and] permanent resolution or “peace clause” on public stockholding.” He mentioned that it was only because of the public procurement program that India could provide free food to millions of its citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic. The UNCTAD SG Ms Grynspan supported the Indian trade minister’s views on trade and environment. Quoting UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report, she highlighted that we should not make the same mistakes that were made in the financial crisis post-2008. There is a need to build a coherent policy framework and to move from hyper-globalisation to inter-dependency to “build back better”, she said. While the advanced countries and the WTO DG are putting all their efforts into mainstreaming the climate negotiations in the WTO including liberalizing trade in environmental goods and services, UNCTAD’s Research Paper No. 65, authored by former South African trade minister Rob Davies et al, highlights the pitfalls of mainstreaming the trade and environment agenda in the WTO. That paper underscored that “decades of outsourcing and financial liberalization have led to a massive transfer of production activities to the South and a concentration of financial and intangible assets in the North. As a result, income from energy-efficient corporate activities in the North is generated through carbon-intensive production activities in the South”. In order to sustainably industrialize, developing countries must be provided with “green” technology which is predominantly held and protected by corporations in the North. Key “green” technologies should be declared as global public goods. What is needed in the WTO is not negotiations on the liberalization of trade in “green” goods and services but an incentive-based approach focusing on expanded policy space, “green” technology transfers, and additional sources of financing for developing countries, said an analyst, who asked not to be quoted.
|
||
