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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar25/14) Geneva, 24 Mar (D. Ravi Kanth) — The chair of the World Trade Organization’s General Council (GC) on 21 March informed members that Pakistan’s trade envoy, Ambassador Ali Sarfaraz Hussain, will be formally appointed as the chair of the Doha agriculture negotiating body at its upcoming meeting this week, said people familiar with the development. Amid the grave challenges on whether the Doha agriculture negotiating body, also referred to as the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session (CoA-SS), will be able to seriously engage on the outstanding mandated issues that have been hanging in limbo since December 2015, it remains to be seen how the new chair will be able to navigate the discussions, said people familiar with the development. Several issues such as the permanent solution for public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security and the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) remain unaddressed since the WTO’s tenth ministerial conference (MC10) in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2015. The US has fiercely opposed the permanent solution for PSH since the WTO’s 11th ministerial conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December 2017. AGRICULTURE WORKSHOP Meanwhile, in an attempt to shift the focus to food security and other key issues in agriculture, India is hosting a half-day workshop at the WTO on 26 March. “Food security, defined as the availability, accessibility and affordability of sufficient and nutritious food, remains a pressing global challenge,” India argued in a concept note. It suggested that “many regions worldwide face hunger and food insecurity driven by factors such as conflict and economic instability. Between 2021 and 2023, over 2.3 billion people worldwide face moderate or severe food insecurity – a significant increase from previous years. Some countries reported as many as 161 million affected people during this period.” The half-day workshop is expected to witness several developing countries presenting their “experiences on important agriculture issues for the better understanding of the members.” Meanwhile, in a separate development related to the concessions granted by India to the US concerning bourbon whisky under reported pressure from the Trump administration, the European Union has raised a question as to why India has allegedly departed from its multilateral commitments. In its question (in document G/AG/W/252), the EU said that it “notes that on 13 February 2025, India announced an immediate reduction of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff on Bourbon whiskey imports from 150% to 100%.” The EU said, “the Indian Finance Ministry in Customs Notification -CP.CE-046-2025 reduced the Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) for “Bottled in Origin” and Bulk Bourbon Whiskey from 100% to 50% with immediate effect.” The EU maintained that “for all other spirits, the AIDC remains at 100%, while the 50% Basic Customs Duty remains for all spirits.” Against this backdrop, the EU sought to know “how does India see the compliance of its substantial reduction of tariff, for one product – Bourbon whiskey, with the MFN principle of avoiding de facto discrimination of other like products (Article I:1 GATT 1994), for which India maintains much higher tariffs?” +
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