Wrangling over fish, e-trade and dispute settlement at WTO meeting
Published: Monday, Feb 26th 2024, 12:00
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The ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) began on Monday with a call for unity. Negotiators must "roll up their sleeves" to get agreements across the finish line, said Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Abu Dhabi.
At a time when global cooperation is at an all-time low, the economist succeeded in concluding the first multilateral trade agreement with sustainability at its heart in 2022. This dealt with the most harmful forms of fisheries subsidies. A second agreement is now to be added in Abu Dhabi, which will cover all forms of subsidies that can contribute to overcapacity or overfishing. Exceptions and transitional periods are still being discussed. A trade diplomat in Geneva described the chances of an agreement as 50:50.
Ngozi welcomed two new member countries in Abu Dhabi: East Timor in South East Asia and the Comoros in the Indian Ocean. The WTO now has 166 members. Because decisions in the organization are always made by consensus, reaching agreements is particularly difficult.
Separate agreement
This is why 123 countries pulled out on Sunday and concluded a separate agreement on facilitating investment. This is primarily about aid for poorer countries so that they can attract more investment. The countries hope that the agreement will be accepted as a WTO document and that other countries will join later. There are two countries that object to many of the plans: India and South Africa.
The two countries have also spoken out against the extension of a moratorium on e-commerce. WTO countries do not currently levy tariffs on electronic transmissions such as software updates, video streams or emails. Western countries are campaigning for an extension. India and South Africa argue that they are losing out on customs revenue, for example when books are replaced by electronic versions.
The USA is standing on the brakes when it comes to restoring the dispute settlement mechanism. The system has been partially blocked for a good four years because Washington wants to change the system. Negotiations on this are dragging on and the chief negotiator has given no hope of a breakthrough in Abu Dhabi.
The attempt to extend the relaxation of patent rights on Covid-19 vaccines to tests and treatments also failed. This was intended to give poorer countries a better chance of obtaining affordable medicines. Western countries and the pharmaceutical industry fought against this.
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