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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar24/13) Geneva, 21 Mar (D. Ravi Kanth) — Despite the failed World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) early this month, the WTO Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, seems to be toying with the idea of pressing ahead with the rejected draft texts on agriculture and fisheries subsidies, a development that appears to go against past practices adopted by previous Director-Generals, said people familiar with the development. Following the failed MC13, members are congregating for the first General Council meeting on 21 March that would take stock of where things stand in different areas. The DG, as chair of the Doha Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), is expected to present her assessment on the way forward in the negotiations in the two most vital areas of fisheries subsidies in relation to over-capacity and overfishing – also referred to as OCOF subsidies – and agriculture. The DG, who seems to have not come to terms with the failed MC13, may make a pitch to continue negotiations on fisheries subsidies and agriculture based on the texts that failed to achieve an outcome at Abu Dhabi, said several trade envoys familiar with the development. In the past, following failed ministerial meetings, the previous Director-Generals started work afresh. For example, after the failed WTO’s fifth ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003, then DG, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, started working on the texts all over again. Dr Supachai’s efforts led to the July 2004 framework agreement that dropped the three “Singapore issues” – trade and investment, transparency in government procurement and trade and competition policy, while paving the way to starting negotiations on trade facilitation. The July 2004 framework agreement led to a new agriculture text and modalities worked out by the then chair of the Doha agriculture negotiations, Ambassador Crawford Falconer of New Zealand, in 2008. It is a different story that the text also failed to “break the ice” in the Doha agriculture negotiations, said people familiar with the negotiations. Even Ms Okonjo-Iweala’s predecessor, Roberto Azevedo from Brazil, had to start negotiations on both domestic support and on making the interim solution on public stockholding programs for food security permanent. However, at the WTO’s 11th ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2017, the negotiations again fell apart on agriculture following opposition from the US, led by Ambassador Robert Lighthizer. Even at the WTO’s 12th ministerial conference (MC12) in Geneva, in June 2022, trade ministers failed to agree on any decision on agriculture. Against this backdrop, MC13 cannot be treated as “business as usual” by the DG to work on the existing texts, said a capital-based official. At the Abu Dhabi meeting, for whatever reasons, there was no explicit consensus on adopting the decisions on agriculture and fisheries subsidies due to sharp divisions, as well as opposition from India on both the issues. According to the draft annotated agenda circulated by the outgoing General Council chair, Ambassador Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme from Botswana, for the General Council meeting on 21 March, the DG, who in her capacity as the chairperson of the Trade Negotiations Committee, will make “a statement on developments since her last report to the General Council on 14 February”, said people familiar with the development. According to the draft agenda, Brazil will make a statement on “moving agriculture negotiations forward.” INDIA’S ASSESSMENT ON DEVELOPMENT DIMENSION Significantly, India is expected to present its assessment on “30 Years of WTO: How Has Development Dimension Progressed?” at the General Council meeting. It is commonplace knowledge that the Doha Development Agenda has been stymied after major industrialized countries secured the Trade Facilitation Agreement at the WTO’s ninth ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2013. Later, the United States along with the Cairns Group of farm-exporting countries also consistently stymied any outcome on the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security since MC10 in Nairobi, Kenya, in December 2015. IFD Despite the lack of explicit consensus on the integration of the plurilateral agreement on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) at MC13, Chile and South Korea, on behalf of 124 countries, are expected to press ahead with their failed proposal on incorporating the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement into Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement. It is common knowledge that the DG made the strongest push for a decision on IFD at MC13. However, India blocked consensus on the issue. At the General Council meeting, the co-sponsors are expected to present the following draft General Council Decision, as follows: “The General Council; Having regard to paragraph 9 of Article X of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (the “WTO Agreement”); Conducting the functions of the Ministerial Conference pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article IV of the WTO Agreement; Taking note of the request to add the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement to Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement (WT/GC/W/927); Decides as follows: The Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement as annexed to this Decision shall, upon its entry into force in accordance with paragraph 1 of its Article 45, be added to Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement, after the Agreement on Government Procurement.” TRIPS FOR DEVELOPMENT Colombia, along with India, Bangladesh and Egypt, is expected to present a proposal on TRIPS for Development at the General Council meeting. The four co-sponsors presented the following proposal for discussion at the meeting: “1. We, keeping in mind the upcoming 30th anniversary of the TRIPS Agreement, call upon the Council for TRIPS to undertake and finalize its first review under Article 71 on the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. 2. Pursuant to paragraph 19 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, we request the Council for TRIPS to expedite ongoing work to examine the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. 3. We also call upon the TRIPS Council to examine how the TRIPS Agreement could facilitate transfer and dissemination of technologies to developing countries including LDCs. 4. We further call upon the Council to examine the TRIPS Agreement, the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health of 2001 and the Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement of 2022, to review and build on the lessons learned during COVID-19, with the aim to address the concerns of developing countries including LDCs in the context of health emergencies including pandemic. 5. In undertaking this work, the TRIPS Council shall be guided by the objectives and principles set out in Articles 7 and 8 of the TRIPS Agreement and shall take fully into account the development dimension and shall provide a report on the progress made, including any recommendations, to the Ministers at the 14th Ministerial Conference.” In short, the General Council meeting is likely to indicate how the DG intends to move on some of the failed issues at MC13. Indications are that the DG is likely to start her campaign after the General Council meeting end-July, said people familiar with the development. +
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