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Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Oct24/18) Geneva, 22 Oct (D. Ravi Kanth) — The World Trade Organization’s Director-General, in her capacity as the chair of the Doha Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), on 21 October declared that there is “convergence” among members to press ahead with her plan to appoint facilitators to oversee the agriculture negotiations, despite the lack of “consensus” and a continued “impasse”, said people familiar with the development. At an informal TNC meeting on 21 October, the DG, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, seemingly acknowledged that there is no “consensus” on several elements of her proposed plan that includes starting formal discussions and appointing facilitators on several issues. The issues include public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security; special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for developing countries; cotton; domestic support; market access; cross-cutting issues like food security, sustainability and transparency; export restrictions; and export competition, said people familiar with the discussions. Yet, in a rather unprecedented move, the DG apparently chose to “gavel” at the end of the informal TNC meeting by declaring that she detects “convergence” to press ahead with her proposed plan, said people familiar with the discussions. She said, “We don’t want you to go back to the CoA-SS and ask the same questions you have asked before, but actually start negotiations, whether it is on mandated issues or on the other issues,” according to people who took part in the meeting. The first option, she said, is to start the formal discussions that will remain complementary to the discussions in the CoA-SS (Committee on Agriculture in Special Session), which is the mandated forum for the Doha agriculture negotiations. The informal TNC meeting was a follow-up to the one held on 10 October, where there was no consensus on the issue of the appointment of facilitators, said people who asked not to be quoted. In response to questions from members, the DG suggested at the informal TNC meeting that facilitators can take up the issues from a pre-negotiations stage, said people who asked not to be quoted. Incidentally, the chair of the WTO’s General Council, Ambassador Petter Olberg of Norway, who appears to have institutionalized the new concept of “convergence” as the basis for decisions, as opposed to “consensus- based decision-making,” was seen sitting behind the DG, said people familiar with the discussions. DG’S “GAVELING” Ms Okonjo-Iweala’s decision to “gavel” at the end of the short informal TNC meeting after announcing that she was going to issue a report soon for consideration of the members was “unprecedented” as per the TNC rules and conventions, where the chair is not mandated to “gavel” at an informal TNC meeting, said several people familiar with the rules. “Moreover, this new practice of taking decisions based on “convergence” and not “consensus” as per the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995, appears to be replete with dangerous implications,” said a legal analyst who asked not to be quoted. At the informal TNC meeting on agriculture, the DG apparently tried to broker an agreement among members and provided answers to the questions raised by them by displaying them on the big screen, said people familiar with the discussions. INDIA’S CHALLENGE India apparently made a long statement at the meeting challenging the DG over the need to appoint facilitators to oversee the discussions on the mandated issues, which take precedence over all other issues in agriculture, said people familiar with the discussions. India said three issues – public stockholding programs for food security, special safeguard mechanism for developing countries, and cotton – have their mandated direction, adding that these three issues need to be addressed on an expeditious basis. India underscored the need to display the previous mandates on these three issues on the big screen, including the progress made during the past ministerial meetings, to enable members to assess the importance of the unresolved issues, said people who asked not to be quoted. New Delhi pointedly said the current effort by the DG to appoint facilitators is seemingly aimed at devaluing the sanctity of the mandates, said people familiar with the discussions. Later, India made three more interventions to drive home the message that New Delhi is not comfortable with the way in which the agriculture negotiations are allegedly being turned upside down to legitimize an agenda that is closer to the interests of the Cairns Group of farm-exporting countries, said people familiar with the discussions. In response to India’s concerns and questions, the DG seemingly justified the process by saying, “no, no, I can assure you no one can change the mandates,” said people familiar with the discussions. Indonesia, the coordinator of the G33 group of developing countries, concurred with India’s statement while highlighting the sanctity of the previous mandates, said people familiar with the discussions. The DG repeated her common refrain that nothing has been going on for the last 20 years in agriculture, suggesting that it is up to members to decide, said people familiar with the discussions. Ms Okonjo-Iweala then gave the floor to the chair of the Doha agriculture negotiations, Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Turkiye, to give his assessment, said people familiar with the discussions. Ambassador Acarsoy apparently said, “yes DG, I can confirm that nothing happened during the last two years”, adding that “there has been no progress during my chairmanship”. The moot issue is that if the chair of the Doha agriculture negotiating body, also referred to as the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session (CoA-SS), says that there has been no progress during his tenure, then what is the guarantee that there would be progress with the facilitators, said several trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted. The United States apparently sought more clarity on the role of the facilitators. Later, the US said that it is “flexible” with the process suggested by the DG, somewhat akin to what Washington did on the DG’s appointment process wherein it disapproved of the notion of “convergence” in place of “consensus”, and later remained silent at the GC meeting last week, said people familiar with the discussions. China and the European Union supported the DG’s proposed plan, while Pakistan seemingly disapproved of the facilitator-led process, said people familiar with the discussions. Surprisingly, Brazil seems to have initially said that the DG’s answers raised more questions, but later Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Australia among others strongly supported the DG’s efforts to kick-start the agriculture negotiations by seemingly departing from the normal processes, said people familiar with the discussions. Brazil is understood to have called for a neutral process and an informal pre-negotiation effort that allows for deeper understanding and testing of different perspectives without prejudging outcomes, said people familiar with the discussions at the meeting. RUSSIA’S OPPOSITION ON EXPORT RESTRICTIONS The DG apparently alluded to the Russian Federation’s opposition to having a facilitator for discussing the issue of export restrictions, suggesting that she wanted to talk to Russia, said people familiar with the discussions. She suggested that a discussion on export restrictions is required between Russia and the G10 farm-defensive countries like Norway, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, and Iceland among others, who are the main demandeurs on the issue of export restrictions, said people familiar with the discussions. It is not clear what transpired from the “green room” meeting that the DG held with the trade envoys of the G10 countries on 18 October, said people familiar with the discussions. However, the G10 countries appear to have maintained at the informal TNC meeting that they cannot accept any change in the fundamental rule on export restrictions, implying that they need an opening to discuss all forms of export restrictions, said people familiar with the discussions. Amidst the divisions on several issues concerning the way forward in the agriculture negotiations, the DG appears to have “gaveled” at the end of the informal meeting, saying: “Okay, I have heard you all. I think there is broad convergence, although no consensus,” said people familiar with the discussions. She seemingly failed to provide any clear answers to the questions raised by India, said people familiar with the discussions. Further, Chad, on behalf of the African Group, apparently remained sceptical about the process suggested by the DG, demanding a bottom-up and more inclusive process. South Africa suggested that instead of a facilitator-led process, thematic discussions could be held on all the topics, said people familiar with the discussions. Even Nigeria spoke on the lines of what South Africa had suggested at the meeting. Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Paraguay, New Zealand, and the US maintained a rather nuanced stance by not saying anything against the DG’s proposed plan, while the EU fully supported Ms Okonjo-Iweala’s proposed way forward to jumpstart the agriculture negotiations, said people familiar with the discussions. +
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