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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb24/24) Abu Dhabi, 26 Feb (D. Ravi Kanth) — More than 120 countries on 25 February circulated the Joint Ministerial Declaration on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, setting the stage for a tense battle over the entry of the IFD Agreement into the WTO on procedural and systemic grounds, said people familiar with the development. India and South Africa have consistently blocked the entry of the IFD agreement as a plurilateral agreement on both procedural and systemic grounds. The United States, though not a party to the Joint Ministerial Declaration on IFD, appears to be ready to support the IFD agreement without blocking it, said people familiar with the development. At a meeting of the “parties” to the IFD agreement, which has been overwhelmingly propelled by China since 2017, the Joint Ministerial Declaration was gaveled, amidst the brief presence of the WTO’s Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the chair of MC13, said people familiar with the development. The parties to the Joint Ministerial Declaration on IFD include: Afghanistan; Albania; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Australia; Bahrain, Kingdom of; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bolivia, Plurinational State of; Brazil; Burundi; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Canada; Central African Republic; Chad; Chile; China; Congo; Costa Rica; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; European Union; Gabon; Gambia; Georgia; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Indonesia; Japan; Kazakhstan; Korea, Republic of; Kuwait, the State of; Kyrgyz Republic; Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Liberia; Macao, China; Malawi; Malaysia; Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Moldova, Republic of; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; North Macedonia; Norway; Oman; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; Suriname; Switzerland; Tajikistan; Thailand; Togo; Uganda; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uruguay; Vanuatu; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Yemen; Zambia; and Zimbabwe. In its chapeau, the Joint Ministerial Declaration says that it recognizes “the importance of foreign direct investment in the promotion of sustainable development, economic growth, poverty reduction, job creation, technology transfer, the expansion and diversification of productive capacity and trade, as well as for the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.” It says that the Declaration is premised on the “commitment announced in the Joint Ministerial Statement done on 13 December 2017 at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference to develop an agreement on investment facilitation for development in the WTO (WTO document WT/MIN(17)/59), and as reaffirmed on 22 November 2019 (WT/L/1072/Rev.1) and on 10 December 2021 (WT/L/1130).” The Joint Ministerial Declaration claims that the “open-ended plurilateral Agreement on Investment Facilitation for Development (hereinafter referred to as “the IFD Agreement”), negotiated in full transparency with the possibility for all WTO Members to participate, is beneficial to all WTO Members.” Reaffirming that facilitating “greater developing and least-developed Members’ participation in global investment flows constitute a core objective of the IFD Agreement,” the Declaration welcomes “the momentous progress made in the negotiations on Investment Facilitation for Development since the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires and the high-level of engagement and support they have achieved among WTO Members.” It confirmed the shared objective of IFD members ” to incorporate the IFD Agreement into the WTO Agreement as soon as possible and will request to add the IFD Agreement to Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement, pursuant to paragraph 9 of Article X of the WTO Agreement. A multilateral decision to add the IFD Agreement to Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement will enable domestic procedures for acceptance of the IFD Agreement to proceed, with a view to ensuring its timely entry into force.” India and South Africa blocked the discussion on IFD at the special General Council meeting on 14 February on grounds that it violated Articles IX and X of the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995. The two countries had opposed the issue of IFD at previous General Council and ministerial meetings, said people familiar with the development. +
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