Agriculture Talks Still Stuck

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appears to have suffered a setback in her much-publicized plan to break the “gridlock” in the agriculture negotiations, as consensus eluded on the two options, particularly on the appointment of facilitators, said people familiar with the developments.

Following the lack of convergence on the proposed “way-forward” as well as on the appointment of facilitators at the formal Doha trade negotiations committee meeting yesterday morning, the DG apparently switched to an informal heads of delegation meeting in the afternoon, said people familiar with the discussions.

At the informal HoD meeting, Ms Okonjo-Iweala touted her specific achievements over the past several months, including the secondment program that is apparently launched by the Secretariat, said people familiar with the discussions.

Significantly, when the DG said that she started a secondment program almost on the lines of such schemes being implemented in other multilateral bodies, a US official raised several questions on the proposed program, saying the Secretariat has not answered the questions, said people familiar with the developments.

In her response, the DG apparently said she is unaware of the US questions and went on assure the US official that she will get back with her replies, said people familiar with the developments.

Fisheries Negotiations
The DG claimed progress in fisheries subsidies negotiations, mentioning that Ecuador is the latest member to have ratified the fisheries subsidies agreement. So far, 84 countries have ratified the Fish Agreement-1, which will come into effect only when 111 countries ratify it.

She said barring one member, the proposed agreement to address subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing can be concluded, said people familiar with the discussions at the meeting.

Three countries – India, Mozambique and Russia – challenged the proposed two options.

The first option would involve forming small groups to discuss the outstanding issues and simultaneously conveying their reports to the Doha negotiating body on agriculture, which is also known as Committee on Agriculture in special session, while the second option is based on a facilitator-led process on different topics.

At the meeting, several other members made their specific concerns; for example, the European Union apparently sought more clarifications on the facilitator-led process. The EU, which has huge reductions to be made in its amber box subsidies, appears to be hiding behind the permanent solution for public stockholding programs, said a person who asked not to be quoted.

The EU said “we all know where the difficulty lies when it comes to agriculture negotiations,” arguing that “a workable solution to public stockholding within the context of reductions to trade distorting support is the path.”

However, the previous ministerial mandates did not link these two issues and treated PSH and SSM on a separate footing, the person said.

The United States also sought more clarity on the second option, said people familiar with the discussions.

Mozambique, on behalf of the African Group, expressed sharp concerns on having facilitator-led discussions, a concern that was shared by several other countries.

Russia expressed concern on export restriction, saying it has no place in the proposed negotiations, said people familiar with the discussions.

Faced with an embarrassing setback, the DG said “I sense that there's a willingness to try to break the gridlock on agriculture and to try and move the process forward.”

“I also sense that people like the idea of meeting in various configurations with each other and