TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May21/04)
4 May 2021
Third World Network

WTO DG indifferent to Doha TNC mandate?
Published in SUNS #9339 dated 4 May 2021

Washington DC, 3 May (D. Ravi Kanth) -  World Trade Organization director-general Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wants the "coordinators of the Joint Statement Initiatives to provide their reports and assessments" at the informal Doha Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting on 3 May, in what appears to be a violation of the rules of the TNC, said people familiar with the development.

In an email sent to members on 27 April, the DG said that at the virtual informal TNC on 3 May, "Negotiating Groups Chairs will provide updated reports including assessments of where Members are in their work in view of July and MC12."

"In addition, given that this is also an informal HoDs, I will invite coordinators of the joint statement initiatives to provide their reports and assessments," she said in her email.

The TNC, which was established under the Doha mandate in 2001, requires the TNC chair to singularly focus on the mandated issues of the Doha work program, said a person familiar with the development.

As the Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) are not part of the TNC mandate because they were not multilaterally approved at the WTO's 11th ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, in December 2017, the TNC chair needs to obey the rules in a rules-based and member-driven organization, the person said.

Also, the JSIs on electronic commerce, investment facilitation, disciplines for MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), domestic regulation in trade in services, and even trade and gender, have no locus standi because the legal status of these initiatives remains unclear.

Two countries - India and South Africa - have already challenged the legal status of the JSIs and the discussions on the proposal by the two countries are ongoing at this juncture, said another person, who asked not to be quoted.

Apparently, the DG appears indifferent to the rules, which is a source for concern, the person said. Up until now, the JSI coordinators were making their statements at the informal TNC meeting, with the TNC chair maintaining a steady silence on these issues as prompted by institutional knowledge, the envoy said.

In her email, the DG also said that "to guide our discussions at this meeting, in light of the reports provided by the Chairs and the Coordinators, mindful of the need to conduct our meetings in a business-like, efficient, and productive manner, and in line with your ongoing consultations with the Chair of the General Council, I would be interested in hearing your top-most priorities for MC12 related to those reports; the contribution/s you are prepared to make in order to achieve them; and how we could concretely approach the other issues which might not be mature by MC12."

She said, "I will be reporting on the meeting that I convened on COVID-19 and Vaccine Equity (on 14 April) and what the WTO can contribute. I would also like to hear your views on how we should address issues arising from the pandemic in a cross-cutting manner."

However, she did not mention the TRIPS waiver which is being endorsed by more than 400 civil society organizations, and 100 world leaders as well as by several US senators, Congressmen and women, Nobel laureates, academics, US lawmakers, and EU Members of Parliament etc.

Those endorsements have underscored "the need of lifting intellectual property monopolies so that there will be freedom to operate, and more open sharing of technology and know-how to support the scaling up of the manufacture, wherever possible, of Covid therapeutics, vaccines or other related medical products," said the African Group at the TRIPS Council meeting on 30 April.