No WTO promise on food security

Trade body chief says developing nations have legitimate concerns on issue but notes need for consensus

World Trade Organization (WTO) director general Roberto Azevêdo said on Monday that a discussion on food security concerns, covering public stockholding and domestic food aid programmes, requires a permanent and long-term solution subscribed to by all the 159 member-countries and was unlikely to be resolved in the coming ministerial meeting.

“We will try to find a solution between now and the ministerial conference in Bali. Until we reach a solution, it would be premature to say what the nature of that solution is. But we will try to find an outcome which all sides believe is a balanced outcome, in the interest of all of them,” he told reporters here after meeting commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma.

The latter said the Government of India was hopeful of a positive outcome at the meet. He also said the very fact WTO members were ready to discuss the food security proposal was enough for developing countries to move ahead.

The proposal on food security and public stockholding was floated by the G-33 coalition of developing countries in 2008. While developing countries such as India, China and Brazil had been pushing for the proposal to be taken up, the talks had been deadlocked since.

While assuring that members were now ready to discuss the topic, Azevêdo did not give any assurance on whether it would be taken up during the Bali ministerial.

“When the proposal was originally floated by the G-33, it was rejected by many. But from 2008 till now, a lot of progress has taken place. Member-countries know that this is a legitimate issue and countries are willing to discuss. But it is very complex issue. We have to simplify the discussion and arrive at a permanent long-term solution,” he said in his address.

Discussion would lead to making those food subsidies legal that are now prohibited, and the US and Europe had been opposed to taking up the matter. Public stockholding is a widely used means to ensure food security in many developing countries where agriculture is largely rain-fed. Updating of the rules would greatly help these countries in carrying out such operations without defaulting on their commitments, Indian officials said.

During his speech to the Confederation of Indian Industry, Azevêdo urged industry leaders to push the government to agree to a deal on trade facilitation, which the US and the European Union have been very keen on signing in Bali. The WTO chief said this would lower cost barriers and help companies to be part of the global value chain.

“This is not a small deal. It is a very big deal if done properly. We must deliver on this one to reinvigorate the multilateral trading system,” he told the gathering, also attended by ambassadors and senior diplomats.

Azevêdo said governments need to show flexibility in continuing the process of having a rules-based multilateral trading system. “Capitals have to work towards creating a Bali package; else, it will be regrettable. WTO will lose relevance. The multilateral trading system will lose relevance,” he said.