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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar24/01) Abu Dhabi, 29 Feb (D. Ravi Kanth) — The World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) faced strong headwinds on day three due to widening and somewhat unbridgeable differences in agriculture, fisheries subsidies, the E-commerce moratorium, the MC13 Outcome Document, and the controversial plurilateral Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) that has been formally opposed by South Africa and India in writing, said delegates who asked not to be quoted. Even during the discussions on the reform of the WTO’s dispute settlement system, conflicting positions/ demands came to the forefront. While India, Indonesia, South Africa, and several other developing countries called for the restoration of the Appellate Body, the position of the United States against its restoration in the two-tier dispute settlement system remains unchanged, said delegates familiar with the discussions. The facilitator-ministers have issued revised texts on fisheries subsidies and the E-commerce moratorium, which has two options – one seeking to extend the moratorium until the WTO’s 14th ministerial conference (scheduled to take place in Cameroon in 2026) and the other proposing the termination of the moratorium. The revised draft text on fisheries subsidies contains some modest improvements for artisanal, small-scale, and livelihood fishers but continues with the specific carve-outs for the large-scale subsidizers. In an enveloping crisis-ridden negotiating climate at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the differences kept escalating in all the above-mentioned areas where members refused to budge from their stated positions in bilateral, small-group, and plenary meetings, said delegates, preferring not to be identified. With the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai and the Indian Commerce Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal having landed in Abu Dhabi on 28 February, there were expectations that progress could be made but that seemingly failed to happen because of the entrenched positions, said people who asked not to be quoted. “Despite numerous bilateral and small group meetings between the key members and minister-facilitators, the ambiance continues to be gloomy,” said delegates who asked not to be quoted. It remains to be seen if progress could be made on the fourth day through the concentrated green room/small group meetings that are invariably held in a seemingly “pressure-cooker” environment, said delegates who asked not to be quoted. IFDA The biggest jolt to the WTO Director-General’s repeated pronouncements on Investment Facilitation for Development came on day three when several sponsoring members of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) seemingly “hijacked” the process by raising the issue of integrating the agreement into the Annex 4 list under the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995, said delegates who asked not to be quoted. During a session on development at the level of capital-based officials, several signatories to the controversial IFDA, including some non-members like the US, pressed for the integration of the IFDA into Annex 4, said people who asked not to be quoted. The proponents of the IFDA including Chile, Korea, China, the European Union, Singapore, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Cameroon among others, made strong statements calling for the integration of the IFDA into Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement, said delegates familiar with the development. The Brazilian official appears to have said that the IFDA is better than those asymmetrical intrusive bilateral investment agreements, said a delegate who was present at the meeting. Some members like Cote D’Ivoire called for an open-ended dedicated Working Session on IFDA in Abu Dhabi. The minister-facilitator for development, Mr Kerrie Symmonds, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Barbados, is understood to have said that he would communicate it to the chair of MC13, said people, who asked not to be quoted. FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIONS In response to the move by the proponents of the IFDA, South Africa and India among others raised fundamental objections against the integration of the controversial plurilateral IFDA into the WTO rule book, submitting their objections in writing, said delegates who asked not to be quoted. However, the move to integrate the IFDA into Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement during a discussion on development issues seems to have taken some members by surprise, said delegates familiar with the discussions. Likening the move by the supporters of the IFDA to “hijacking”, a delegate said privately that this is an attempt to “steam-roll” an agreement on which there has been no formal consensus since 2003. In their fundamental objection, which was later circulated in a document, South Africa and India said: “We note the communication from Chile and the Republic of Korea (WT/MIN(24)/W/5) dated 16 February 2024 which provides that “as informed to all WTO members at the special meeting of the General Council held on 14 February 2024, 119 WTO members co-sponsoring the Joint Ministerial Declaration will submit, for Ministers’ consideration at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13), a request to add the IFD Agreement to Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO (“WTO Agreement”) pursuant to Article X.9 of the WTO Agreement. The request for incorporation is submitted in the form of a “Draft Ministerial Decision”. An advance copy of the noted Draft Ministerial decision is annexed to the communication (WT/MIN(24)/W/5.” Further, South Africa and India emphasized that Article X.9 states that, “The Ministerial Conference, upon the request of the Members Parties to a trade agreement, may decide exclusively by consensus to add that agreement to Annex 4.” “This joint statement”, according to South Africa and India, “is a formal objection … within the meaning of footnote 1 of Article IX.1 of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO, to any proposal to include the adoption of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement as an issue for consideration and action within the agenda of, or as an agenda or sub-agenda item for, the 13th session of the WTO Ministerial Conference.” On 25 February, more than 120 countries had circulated a Joint Ministerial Declaration on Investment Facilitation for Development at MC13, setting the stage for a tense battle on the entry of the IFD Agreement on procedural and systemic grounds, said people familiar with the development. As reported in the SUNS, at the meeting of the “parties” to the Joint Ministerial Declaration on Investment Facilitation for Development, the Declaration was gaveled, amidst the brief presence of the WTO’s Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the chair of MC13, said people familiar with the development. +
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