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Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Dec20/23) Geneva, 21 Dec (D. Ravi Kanth) – Singapore and many other supporters of a proposal on removing export restrictions on the supply of foodstuff to the World Food Programme (WFP) suffered a major setback at the World Trade Organization on 18 December, after they failed to answer questions raised by India, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Botswana among others. Four developing countries – India, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Botswana – refused to join the consensus on the proposed multilateral decision to help the WFP, as the proponents of the proposal chose not to answer the questions, trade envoys told the SUNS. At the WTO’s General Council (GC) meeting on 18 December, the proponents led by Singapore expressed concern that their proposal was not agreed upon, insisting that they will now issue a joint statement. Singapore, which spearheaded the campaign for the GC decision, said history is being written today, and argued that the third revised draft proposal has taken into consideration all the points raised by some members, said participants present at the meeting. The third revised draft proposed that “the General Council, in view of the critical humanitarian support provided by the World Food Programme, made more urgent in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises, decides as follows: Members shall not impose export prohibitions or restrictions on foodstuffs purchased for non-commercial humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme.” The United States, the EU, Japan, Australia, and several other countries called for the adoption of the proposal. However, Singapore and Mexico among others failed to address the specific questions raised by India about the linkages between the proposal and the Bali decision on the public stockholding programs for food security. Mexico said that it is unfortunate that the negotiating discussion has been leaked outside which is a breach of confidentiality, said a participant, who asked not to be quoted. However, the issue of not imposing restrictions on procurement of foodstuffs by WFP has been part of the Doha agriculture negotiations, and earlier, Singapore and Norway had raised the issue under the banner of transparency as part of the outcome on the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security at the WTO’s eleventh ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December 2017. Further, the “friend of the chair” for the Buenos Aires meeting, former Kenyan Ambassador Amina Mohamed, had included the item in the draft agriculture decision but the US had blocked it, causing the collapse of the 11th ministerial conference, said a South American participant. In a hard-hitting statement, India protested at the manner in which Singapore and the other proponents have “manufactured” the draft decision, saying “the effort made by other Members during this week to arrive at consensus text incorporating food security aspect of supplying Member, which unfortunately has not found acceptance from the main proponents.” The Indian trade envoy told Singapore that “when we speak about being on the right side of history with respect to access to medicines and the TRIPS Waiver proposal, the closest example that we can think of on a similar scale for food security and eliminating hunger was the Bali Interim Solution on Public Stockholding [PSH] for food security purposes.” India asked whether “the main co-sponsors of the current draft Decision, with their avowed commitment to reaching SDG 2 and “Zero Hunger”, are as committed to delivering on the clear Ministerial mandate to make the Bali Interim solution on PSH into an effective and permanent solution by MC12.” “That would be a defining test on how history judges the WTO when it comes to delivering on food security,” India argued. Pakistan said that the WFP issue has been raised for the past ten or more years, arguing that it has come up under different names. However, it is linked to other issues on food security, Pakistan said, arguing that it cannot join the consensus.
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