 "WTO meeting: It's back to square one")
The ministerial declaration reaffirmed a full commitment to conclude the DDA along earlier, established lines of discussion, but also recognised that "some wish to identify and discuss other issues for negotiation, others do not." Current procedures at the WTO mandate any new resolution must garner the unanimous support of all member-countries before being adopted.
Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted after the concluding session, "Utterly disappointed! A unanimous reaffirmation of DDA hasn't happened."
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The DDA, adopted way back in 2001, had struggled to find a common ground among members after a schism developed between the rich nations, who want new issues to take its place, and their poorer counterparts, who demand it be continued.
An earlier draft had to be junked after the US had vehemently opposed any mention of the DDA. A small group of countries, including the US, European Union (EU), China and Brazil, had been locked up in negotiations since late Friday night.
The developed members led by the US and EU and some others such as Brazil, have been opposing the continuation of the Doha round and have so far shown no signs of yielding to the demands of the developing nations. On the contentious matter of special safeguards in agriculture, a declaration has recognised developing members will have the right to have recourse to a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) as envisaged under the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.
The SSM allows countries to temporarily raise tariffs to deal with surging imports and subsequent price falls. The draft agreement said developing countries will have the right to have recourse to it. Dedicated sessions of the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session will hold regular talks on the issue and the General Council shall regularly review progress in these negotiations.
While Sitharaman tweeted the move was significant since SSM was off the negotiating table when the current ministerial had begun, the declaration is far from the complete sanction for the SSM, as hoped for by a large number of countries.
Developing countries had demanded that a provision already existing in Article 5 of the multilateral body's Agreement on Agriculture be amended to provide them the same benefit that rich countries derive from the Special (Agricultural) Safeguards (SSGs).
As to a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes which had been repeatedly demanded by India, similar assurances have been given. The negotiations on this subject shall be held in the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session, which will be distinct from the ongoing agriculture negotiations under the DDA.
The conference, originally scheduled to be concluded by Friday, had entered its fifth day of hectic negotiations on Saturday. Emerging economies have repeatedly alleged they were being sidelined on the issues of reducing farm subsidies and providing protection to poor farmers.
The draft agreed that much less progress than what was expected had been made in agriculture and other central components of the WTO's negotiating agenda, namely non-agriculture market access and change in services trade law. It also noted, with concern, that the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis had been slow and uneven.
LOCKED HORNS
The developing and underdeveloped nations locked horns with their developed brethren over continuing the Doha agenda of the World Trade Organization. The Nairobi negotations concluded without any major breakthrough:
- PUBLIC STOCKHOLDING OF FOOD CROPS
The block of developed nations, led by the US and the EU, has opposed this, claiming it interferes with free market forces. India argues that large and poor countries require buffer stocks of food grain
Developing countries have long demanded a special mechanism to raise tariffs, temporarily, to deal with surging imports and price fall
Status: Agreed upon nominally
Developed countries want to aggressively cut subsidies on agriculture and allied activities.
Status: A tighter deadline on cards to phase out subsidies, possibly by 2023