WTO
MEET - INTERNATIONAL
News:
Agriculture, fisheries
take spotlight at WTO meet in Abu Dhabi
What's
in the news?
●
Recently, The 13th Ministerial Conference
(MC13) of WTO was organized in Abu Dhabi
from 26 February to 29th February 2024.
Highlights
in 13th Ministerial Conference of WTO:
1.
India’s Advocacy for a Permanent Solution to Food Security Challenges:
●
India has called for finding a permanent
solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security in the
ministerial-level meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in February
2024.
2.
New WTO Members:
●
Comoros
and Timor-Leste formally joined the World Trade
Organisation on the opening day in Abu Dhabi, becoming the 165th and 166th
members of the body at the 13th Ministerial Conference of WTO.
3.
Service Domestic Regulations Outcome:
●
New disciplines on services domestic
regulation, announced at the 13th Ministerial Conference.
●
The disciplines will be applied on a
“most-favoured nation” principle, meaning that they will benefit all the WTO
members.
●
Economic
Impact of Disciplines:
○
It is expected to lower trade costs by over USD 125 billion worldwide.
○
New research by the WTO finds that their
implementation will help to reduce services trade costs by 10 per cent for
lower-middle income economies and 14% for upper-middle income economies, with
overall savings of USD 127 billion.
○
By 2032, global real income is projected
to increase by at least 0.3%, representing USD 301 billion and global service
exports are expected to rise by 0.8%, amounting to USD 206 billion.
4.
Brazil’s Push for Technology Transfer and Agriculture Reforms:
●
Brazil emphasised the critical need for
the WTO to facilitate the transfer of essential technologies to developing
countries, particularly for pandemic preparedness, climate mitigation, and
energy transition.
●
Cap
and Reduce Agriculture Subsidies - Brazil emphasised the
criticality of progress in agriculture negotiations. It called for instructions
to cap and reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, which adversely
impact the food security of all the WTO members.
●
Fisheries
Subsidies - Brazil reiterated its strong commitment to
negotiations on fisheries subsidies, underscoring the importance of addressing
the issue to promote sustainable fishing practices globally.
○
India underscored the importance of
considering diverse fishing practices and the livelihoods of local fishermen
with Exclusive Economic Zones.
○
India
also urged for a 25-year moratorium on subsidies for distant-water fishing
activities, citing their adverse effects on sustainable fishing practices.
India
and WTO:
1.
Multilateral Trading System:
●
India mentioned the need to avoid
fragmentation of the multilateral trading system and the importance of
remaining focused rather than mixing non-trade issues with the WTO agenda.
2.
Sustainable Programs:
●
India explained it has propagated a
sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation
through a mass movement for LiFE – “Lifestyle for Environment” a key to
combating climate change.
3.
Non-Trade Issues:
●
India stressed that non-trade issues have
the potential to encourage trade distortive subsidies and non-trade barriers.
●
Bringing issues like Gender and MSMEs into
the realm of WTO discussions was not practical because these issues were being
discussed in other relevant international organisations already.
4.
Issues like Inclusion:
●
India stressed that such issues are better
addressed through contextual and targeted national measures and they did not
fall in the domain of international trade relations.
5.
Restoration of Appellate Body:
●
India stressed the restoration of the
Appellate Body, which has been inactive since December 2019.
6.
Opposed IFD:
●
India and South
Africa blocked a key proposal led by China at the WTO, known as the Investment
Facilitation Development Agreement (IFD).
Go
back to basics:
Investment
Facilitation Development Agreement (IFD):
●
It aims to streamline investment
procedures and facilitate cross-border investments.
Proposed
in:
2017
Criticism:
●
Potentially favouring countries heavily
reliant on Chinese investments and those with sovereign wealth funds.
Opposition
of India:
●
India argued that IFD falls outside the
scope of the WTO, as it is not strictly a trade issue beyond the scope of the
Marrakesh agreement.
●
India pointed out that the IFD does not
fulfill the criteria for a formal agreement as it has not received unanimous
support from all WTO members.
Reference
- WTO