World Trade Organization General Council Chair Petter Olberg informed members yesterday that a retreat will be convened on July 8-9 to discuss how the WTO can remain a “forward-looking organization” amidst continued stalemates on several issues, said people familiar with the development.
The retreat will reflect on how work is carried out in Geneva, how Ministerial Conferences can be optimized and how ongoing work can be carried forward in the various work streams, according to Ambassador Olberg.
The GC chair is understood to have said at the meeting that underlying goal of the proposed retreat is to “ensure the WTO remains a forward-looking Organization – mindful of the pending, long overdue workstreams that require our attention and breakthrough of longstanding stalemates.” He told members that he would elicit their views on the actual content of the retreat in the next couple of weeks.
The hidden goal of the retreat seems to be aimed at changing the consensus-based decision-making as enshrined in the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995, said a trade envoy who asked not to be quoted.
Ahead of the GC chair’s retreat, another retreat will be convened on July 2-3 to discuss the way-forward in agriculture, said people familiar with the developments.
Although the exact venues for these two retreats are yet to be finalized, it appears they might take place at the WTO, said a person who asked not to be quoted.
Responsible Consensus
Earlier, Singapore, one of the key members of the friends of the system, proposed a retreat to
discuss how to make ministerial conferences more optimal, efficient and result-oriented following the failure of the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, said people familiar with the development.
As reported in the WTD, several members, including the United States, supported Singapore’s proposal.
Singapore’s proposal on responsible consensus, which is being sponsored by several countries, including Norway, will come up for discussion at the General Council meeting today, said people familiar with the development.
At the GC meeting, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appears to have indicated some elements of a package of deliverables could be ready at the July meeting before summer break,
despite substantial difference on issues like fisheries subsidies, said people after the meeting.
In her statement as the chair of the Doha trade negotiations committee, the DG said four
priorities for action repeatedly came up in her recent consultations with members – fisheries subsidies, agriculture, dispute settlement reform and investment facilitation for development, according to a WTO statement.
On fisheries subsidies, DG Okonjo-Iweala noted members were “very close” to completing the “second wave” negotiations on fisheries subsidies at MC13 and that “there is much regret that it did not happen.”
“Given this, members said we must get this done as soon as possible. So, this is a top priority, and we are going to have to work very hard to complete” before the WTO's summer break, the goal indicated by many members, she added.
China expressed support for concluding the fisheries negotiations by July.
However, several countries cautioned the DG not to rush into any deliverables, particularly on fisheries subsidies in the face of sharp differences. Indonesia, for example, said it is against any attempt “aimed at making early harvest – especially without resolving our remaining concern regarding the balance of the text.”
Indonesia said it looks “forward for continued negotiation to achieve comprehensive fisheries agreement as mandated in MC12.”
On dispute settlement negotiations, China said “restoring the well-functioning dispute settlement system by the end of this year is obviously the most urgent one.”
Since the process has been formalized after the appointment of a facilitator, China said “now is time for intensive negotiations, to find solutions to the targeted issues by July.” “ This is the prerequisite for reaching an agreement within 2024,” China said.
Five Issues Discussed
Members broadly discussed five issues at the GC meeting. They include: 1) the report of the
committee on budget, finance and administration; 2) the report of the chairperson of the Trade Negotiations Committee and report by the Director-General; 3) the report by the General Council chair on “follow-up to outcomes of MC 13”; 4) Brazil’s proposal to start informal outreach meetings which received a mixed response and 5) an unfinished discussion on “policy space for industrial development” by the African Group.
Brazil’s proposal to elevate discussions to the General Council, instead of the Doha negotiating committee on agriculture, apparently received mixed response with major industrialized countries and some South American countries indicated their willingness for informal discussions.
Commenting on the Brazilian proposal, China said “taking into account the current situation and the multiple challenges facing members, especially the developing members, we call on members to kick off frank and effective dialogues, to mull on the way forward in a creative, practical and constructive way, rather than to repeat previous failures.”
China also cautioned that “the position-repeating approach will not lead agriculture to the successful outcome. The world has changed....We have to think in a new way and find out new approaches. Long-standing issues, food security, responses to climate change and so on, they all need us to find solutions.”
The DG welcomed Brazil’s proposal, suggesting that she is confident that an outcome in agriculture is possible following the Brazilian initiative, said people familiar with the development.
In stark contrast, the African Group and several developing countries expressed sharp concerns, including the danger of compromising the discussions at the Doha negotiating committee on agriculture, said people who asked not to be quoted.
Indonesia, on behalf of the Group of 33 countries, said “we believe that our efforts going forward must be geared towards strengthening the Committee on Agriculture Special Session (CoASS) – rather than undermining it.”
“As such, we affirm our strong preference for undertaking all negotiations within the CoASS as the mandated negotiating body of the WTO Agriculture Committee,” Indonesia said, adding that members “must level the playing field between Members in agriculture trade and correct the historical imbalances in the Agreement on Agriculture, which have long favored few privileged Members.”
Responding to the concerns, Brazil is understood to have said that the initiative to elevate the discussions on agriculture to the GC and the proposed informal meetings are unlikely to duplicate work
being carried out at the Committee on Agriculture Special Session, said people who asked not to be quoted.
To recall, the Brazilian proposal sought a decision to be adopted at the WTO’s General Council in July before the summer break on “moving the agriculture negotiations forward.”
The proposal suggested some significant changes in arriving at modalities in all areas, particularly on domestic support, before the WTO’s 14th ministerial conference.
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