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Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Oct23/05) Yerevan, 4 Oct (D. Ravi Kanth) — The World Trade Organization’s Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, apparently suggested on 3 October the agenda for the upcoming capital-based senior officials’ meeting to be held in the member-driven and rules-based inter-governmental body on 23-24 October, said people familiar with the development. The agenda includes the controversial non-mandated issues, on which members have apparently expressed their views and sought discussions at the upcoming Senior Officials Meeting (SOM). The non-mandated issues that are being slated for discussions at the SOM include: (1) “Trade and environmental sustainability – including climate change,” which is being pushed aggressively by the European Union and the United States; (2) “Trade and industrial policy,” which is being raised by the African Group; (3) “Incorporation of the JSIs (Joint Statement Initiatives)”, which are argued to be allegedly inconsistent with the WTO rules; (4) “Conduct of ministerial conferences”, particularly the suggestion that “senior officials could endorse a deliberative pathway leading to and at MC13”, a proposal from the European Union that allegedly failed to garner much support. At a time when the WTO has failed to deliver on a decision to extend the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, the DG’s report merely states: “A number of Members referred to the continued importance of this Ministerial Decision given the continued evolution of the COVID-19 virus with new variants coming out and new vaccination schedules being rolled out.” “In this regard, they stressed the need for Senior Officials to take up Paragraph 8 of this decision,” the DG’s report suggested. “In their view, such a discussion would be timely given that a relevant report that Members are waiting for is set to be published.” DG’S 11-PAGE REPORT The DG’s 11-page restricted report, titled “Consultations on Preparations for the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM)”, is based on consultations held with members where three questions were posed: a. What are the three or four critical topics that Senior Officials should take up and what are the expectations on them from the SOM leading to MC13? b. What contribution or efforts are you making to prepare engagement on the topic/s by Senior Officials with a view to achieving your expectations on that topic? c. How best can we structure the SOM to achieve the envisaged objective/s for each topic? The DG’s report says, “A wide variety of ideas were expressed in terms of topics for the SOM – including low-hanging fruits for harvesting and issues that require political guidance for focused work after the SOM.” The first area of interest on which members apparently shared their ideas is on agriculture. On this, the report says, “Delegations pointed out that a holistic conversation on agriculture was needed – including on domestic support, public stockholding for food security purposes, cotton, market access and food security.” According to the report, “While a clear pathway was not evident and agriculture reform would not be concluded at MC13, delegations underscored that a conversation by Senior Officials to provide political guidance and direction was needed.” The report further says that “political guidance that could lead to a work program, modalities or the identification of core pillars that need to be progressed between the SOM and MC13 was needed.” Clearly, there appears to be an attempt being made to “kick the can down the road” on the mandated issues in agriculture, when trade ministers had already set a clear pathway in the Doha Development Agenda. Further, trade ministers had agreed at the WTO’s ninth ministerial conference (MC9) in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2013 to conclude an agreement on the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security at the WTO’s tenth ministerial conference (MC10) in Nairobi, Kenya, in December 2015. However, it is public knowledge that the US has consistently blocked the permanent solution on one ground or the other, said a trade envoy, who asked not to be quoted. Therefore, the need to provide political guidance at the SOM and even at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), to be held in Abu Dhabi in February 2024, sounds rather odd and appears to be inconsistent with the previous ministerial mandates, said another trade envoy from South America who preferred not to be quoted. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT REFORM On dispute settlement reform, the DG says in her report, “My consultations further confirmed that dispute settlement reform remains a top priority for the Membership.” In this regard, the DG argues that she heard that “a stocktaking or transparency exercise about the work undertaken to date would be important at the SOM.” According to the DG’s report, “Several delegations pointed out that DS [dispute settlement] Reform was an urgent matter that needs to be delivered soon not only for systemic reasons but given that all other achievements will be undermined without such a system in place.” Without naming these delegations, the DG maintains that “they, therefore, hoped that Senior Officials would provide political guidance to ensure a well-functioning dispute settlement system.” “At the very least,” she says, “a political signal or support that this can be done was needed.” Without naming the countries, she said “others cautioned that while this was an important issue, care was needed not to rock the boat.” In this regard, a stocktaking exercise, coupled with a blessing of the ongoing Member-led process would suffice. Some delegations pointed out that there was a robust ongoing process and questioned the value added of Senior Officials’ engagement on this topic, she added. LDC GRADUATION There seems to be agreement among the members on the importance of finalizing the LDC graduation issue. “The words frequently mentioned were – low hanging fruit; for blessing; early harvest; ripe, among others,” the DG said, adding that “it was pointed out that this issue was a test of whether Members can agree on things that are good for everyone. Others pointed out that achieving a result here before or at the SOM would create positive momentum for other areas.” Significantly, “a broader discussion on development at the SOM including on special and differential treatment and policy space was warranted to achieve required political guidance given the current challenges,” the DG’s report noted. The G90 coalition of developing countries has repeatedly demanded outcomes on improving the provisions on special and differential treatment (S&DT), in their ten Agreement-specific proposals, but one major developed country along with others have created hurdles, and even refused to engage with the G90 on this issue since 2001. On the ongoing fisheries subsidies negotiations, the DG, in her report, says, “Members likewise attached premium to the collective objective of having the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies enter into force by MC13.” “While the importance of concluding the Fish 2 negotiations was stressed, many noted that Senior Officials should not be subjected to answering technical questions especially given the ongoing robust process in the Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR),” the DG maintained. Given the current state of play in the negotiations on fisheries subsidies, the DG says that many members want that the “SOM should be used for political push and strong re-commitment to continue the current negotiations in the NGR with the objective of concluding the negotiations as soon as possible given the urgency of the matter. In this regard, it was noted that concluding these negotiations was not a matter of having more time but of political will to get it done.” WTO REFORM MINISTERIAL As regards WTO reform, which was mandated by trade ministers at MC12 last June, the DG says, “WTO Reform in general remains a priority topic for all delegations and figured prominently in my consultations.” Under the so-called deliberation rubric, the DG says, “most frequently mentioned were Trade and Environmental Sustainability Matters – including climate change and Trade and Industrial Policy.” She continues: “Other possible topics were the incorporation of the Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) into the WTO architecture and Conduct of Ministerial Conferences. At the same time, several Members stressed that, to provide Senior Officials a manageable agenda as well as space for bilateral and group meetings, it would be best if deliberation was limited to a maximum of two topics.” As regards the controversial, non-mandated issue of “trade and environmental sustainability – including climate change”, the DG says, “Many delegations highlighted the importance of discussing the interface between trade and environment, climate change and sustainability matters.” According to the DG’s report, “In particular, the urgency of having a robust trade response was underscored – stressing the need to take into account the cost of greening economies and the effects of unilateral trade measures implemented in the name of addressing environmental challenges and climate change.” TRADE & INDUSTRIAL POLICY According to the DG’s report, “Many Members stressed the need for Ministerial guidance or at least a way forward on how to advance these discussions inter-alia, given the unilateral and protectionist trends … .” “The view was also expressed that given divergences in Members’ positions, a conversation on this issue at the SOM would be difficult and that instead, a more neutral topic such as trade and inclusion could be discussed,” it suggested. INCORPORATION OF JSIs INTO WTO ARCHITECTURE Without naming these delegations, the DG says, “Some delegations also saw the SOM as an opportunity to have frank, candid discussions on the incorporation of JSIs within the WTO architecture.” Her report further says that, “in such a discussion, Members should try to find the balance between providing the space for such initiatives within the WTO without being blocked by a few Members while at the same time, not allowing the WTO to become an institution that imposes agendas on developing and LDC Members.” On the conduct of ministerial conferences, there appears to be little agreement among the members at this juncture. “A number of delegations noted that the SOM provided an opportunity to discuss how to organize MC13 in a manner that responds to Members’ collective objectives and expectations. In this regard, delegations suggested that Senior Officials should guide on how bridge-building ought to be done at ministerial conferences in a transparent and inclusive manner. Others suggested that guidance on the kind of ministerial that Members wished to have at MC13 and beyond should be sought from Senior Officials – including whether MC13 should be a Reform Ministerial,” said the DG’s report. On another “low-hanging fruit” issue concerning the termination of the current moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, the DG’s report says, “it was stressed that this issue should be addressed on its own merit without making linkages to other areas.” Further, “in underlining the utility of the E-Commerce Dedicated Discussions, it was noted that Senior Officials could provide clarity on what they would want out of these discussions. The importance of the development dimension was stressed in this regard.” In short, the DG’s report seems to suggest that the non-mandated issues are being given primacy over the previous mandates provided by trade ministers since the launch of the Doha Work Program in 2001, said several members, who asked not to be identified. +
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