TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May22/05)
4 May 2022
Third World Network

Stocktaking meeting being planned for end May before MC12
Published in SUNS #9568 dated 4 May 2022

Geneva, 3 May (D. Ravi Kanth) – A stocktaking meeting is apparently being planned for later this month to make clear whether the World Trade Organization’s 12th ministerial conference (MC12) scheduled for 12-15 June will be a negotiating meeting or a non-negotiating session, said people familiar with the development.

In a separate development, at an informal meeting of the TRIPS Council on 3 May, the WTO Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has gone ahead to reveal, on her own volition, the contents of the leaked IP text with respect to the TRIPS waiver, said people familiar with the development.

Meanwhile, during closed-door meetings last week, the chair of the WTO General Council (GC), Ambassador Didier Chambovey from Switzerland, was asked by members as to whether MC12 will be a negotiating meeting or a non-negotiating session in order to make preparations for the respective capital-based delegations, particularly for ministers, said people, who took part in the meetings.

The GC chair avoided providing a clear answer, but apparently suggested that a clear picture could emerge by the end of the month during a likely stocktaking meeting, said people, who asked not to be identified.

The GC chair discussed with select groups the structure of MC12 and the proposed outcome document, which includes the points agreed so far such as (1) the tariff rate quota (TRQ) under-fill mechanism, and the issue of TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints; (2) the list of issues that have to be formally approved by ministers; and (3) a summary of discussions and ministerial statements or a chair’s summary among others.

The second part, which indicates the list of issues to be decided at MC12, include:

1. Fisheries subsidies;

2. Agriculture;

3. WTO response to the pandemic, including the TRIPS component;

4. E-commerce Work Program and the Moratorium;

5. Moratorium on TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints;

6. TRIPS waiver;

7. Development, especially making improvements to special and differential treatment provisions, in the 10- Agreement specific proposals;

8. Services;

9. Paragraph 4 of the under-fill mechanism, a follow-up to the Bali ministerial outcome on TRQs, which has been agreed among members after India’s notification;

10. Preferential rules of origin – LDC proposal;

11. SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary measures) proposal by a group of countries;

12. LDC graduation – LDC proposal;

13. Trade finance and debt servicing – ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific) group proposal; and

14. Other issues.

Aside from the “big-ticket” items like fisheries subsidies, agriculture, the WTO’s response to the pandemic, and the TRIPS waiver, progress on the outcome document for MC12 is replete with sharp differences.

During the closed-door meetings last week with the GC chair, members sought to elicit an unambiguous response from the chair as to whether MC12 will be a negotiating meeting or a non-negotiating session for making preparations for respective capital-based delegations, including ministers, said people familiar with the meetings.

The GC chair appears to have dodged the issue by not providing a clear answer, and apparently suggested that a clear picture could emerge at the end of this month during a likely stocktaking meeting, said people who asked not to be quoted.

Apparently, one member asked the chair whether there is any point in bringing her minister to Geneva if it is a non-negotiating meeting without any major decisions being taken at MC12, said people, who asked not to be quoted.

The GC chair apparently remained silent to the specific query about bringing in ministers in the event of a non- negotiating MC12 session, SUNS was told.

So, contrary to the rather upbeat picture provided by the WTO DG about a successful MC12 in Washington DC last week, which appears to be “wishful thinking”, there appears to be no clarity whether progress can be made on the major issues such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture, and the WTO’s response to the pandemic including an IPR component in the next 30 days, said people, who asked not to be quoted.

On fisheries subsidies, there are fundamental issues such as fuel subsidies, the issue of territoriality, the issue of forced labour in the fisheries sector (proposal by the US), and the parity between the carve-outs provided to the big subsidizers in the overcapacity and overfishing pillar and special and differential treatment provisions, as well as several other issues.

During the past two months, the fisheries subsidies negotiations seem to have remained somewhat dormant, and the differences continue to remain as they were before the last meeting, which was postponed due to the sudden eruption of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have resurfaced, with several countries, including the United States, experiencing a gradual spike in new cases, the DG and the GC chair went ahead to confirm the dates for the ministerial conference, said people, who asked not to be quoted.

In agriculture, there has been little or no progress due to differences over the draft agriculture text (TN/AG/50) issued by the chair Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta from Costa Rica last November.

During last week’s Doha agriculture negotiating body meeting, the differences came into the open on the mandated permanent solution for public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security, with members alleging that the draft text is “rigged” and “imbalanced”, said people familiar with the discussions.

On the WTO’s response to the pandemic, which includes the trade-related measures and the TRIPS waiver, there are sharp differences on both these issues. It remains unclear whether the differences can be resolved in the next 30 days, said people, who asked not to be quoted.

Even on other issues, including the current moratorium on levying customs duties on electronic transmissions and the e-commerce work program, as well as the legal status of the non-mandated JSIs (Joint Statement Initiatives) on digital trade, investment facilitation, disciplines for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), domestic regulation in services, and trade and gender, it is going to be a tough battle to secure any decision, said people who asked not to be quoted.

Another “elephant in the negotiating room” is the demand on issues such as WTO reforms, trade and environment, multilateral versus plurilateral negotiations revolving around the issue of the WTO’s negotiating function, and trade for peace among others.

Given Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unclear as to how these two events would influence the negotiations at the eleventh hour, said people, who asked not to be quoted.