The Joint Statement Initiative on electronic commerce co-convenors – Australia, Japan, and Singapore – have escalated negotiations, aiming for a decision at the World Trade Organization's 13th ministerial conference. They race to announce a decision concurrent with the proposed plurilateral Investment Facilitation for Development at MC13, issuing a draft chair's text. The co-convenors released two restricted proposals (INF/ECOM/84 and INF/ECOM/85), reviewed by WTD, for intensive negotiations at the upcoming meeting from January 30 to February 2.
Since there is no consensus on formalization of the informal process at this point in time, the Chair suggested that members allow the informal process on reform to continue to do as much work as possible to achieve a successful outcome. The prospects for restoring the World Trade Organization's (WTO) two-tier dispute settlement system, particularly its final adjudicating limb, the Appellate Body, appear dim at the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference. Nonetheless, there seems to be an effort to declare a partial victory at MC13, with expectations of continued negotiations post-conference.
A bipartisan group of Senators, led by Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo called for President Biden to reject the proposal before the World Trade Organization (WTO) that would waive intellectual property (IP) protections for COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, forecast that the forthcoming 13th ministerial conference could yield "two or three agreements," notably on harmful fisheries subsidies, a moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions, and enhanced flexibilities for developing nations. In a dialogue with Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission Vice President, at the European Civil Society event, Okonjo-Iweala also advocated for an agreement on investment facilitation, currently under negotiation by 110 countries on a plurilateral basis.
World Trade Organization members agreed Tuesday to adopt the draft text on proposed disciplines for addressing subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing, which have depleted global fish stocks. This draft serves as the basis for finalizing an outcome in the remaining six weeks before the 13th Ministerial Conference. Issued last month by fisheries negotiations chair Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland, the draft enables members to negotiate a clear text for the trade ministers' meeting in Abu Dhabi on February 26.
China and Pakistan have proposed a “joint ministerial statement” on “strengthening the resilience and stability of global industrial and supply chains” to be issued at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference, our correspondent writes. In their proposal (WT/GC/W/891/Rev.1), China and Pakistan said the ministerial statement recognizes the severe impact of the “pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, coupled with protectionist and unilateral measures” on global supply chains.
Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy, the Chair of Doha agriculture negotiations, plans to issue a draft text for the World Trade Organization's 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), addressing key issues including public stockholding (PSH) programs for food security and special safeguard mechanisms (SSM) for developing countries. This development follows a one-and-a-half-day special session where stark differences in positions were evident.
The facilitator of the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement reform, Marco Tulio Molina Tejeda, circulated the fourth draft of the confidential ministerial decision, our correspondent writes. This draft remains silent on the appeal/review mechanism and the restoration of the Appellate Body. It introduces terms like “adjudicators,” absent in the current dispute settlement understanding, according to sources.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers are calling on US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to press for renewal of the long-standing Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions transactions at the World Trade Organization’s upcoming 13th ministerial conference. The moratorium covers electronic transmissions of both digital goods like e-books, music, movies and video games and digital services (like software, emails and text messages).
Doha agriculture negotiations Chair Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Türkiye is understood to have held a meeting with a dozen trade envoys yesterday to elicit their views on how to finalize an outcome document for trade ministers to decide at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference, our correspondent reports. The meeting appears to have witnessed some frank discussions, even though the time for arriving at an outcome on agriculture is limited given that MC13 will take place next month.
The Swiss government has decided not to convene an informal ministerial meeting on the margins of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos this year due to “intense preparations” for the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference that is going to start in Abu Dhabi on February 26. As trade envoys return from their Christmas break, they face a mountain of challenges on how to resolve their differences on a range of issues/deliverables for the MC13 in the next 45 days. So far, there seems to be little or no convergence on any of the issues that range from the crucial
WTO members negotiating the accession of Comoros and Timor-Leste on 9 and 11 January, respectively, agreed by consensus, ad referendum, on the terms of the countries' WTO membership, paving the way for the least-developed countries (LDC) to join the organization. With the conclusion of the Working Party’s mandate, the accession package for both states will be submitted to ministers for a formal decision at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi on 26-29 February.
After a much-hailed ministerial meeting in 2022, the world trade body is gearing up for crucial negotiations in Abu Dhabi. Its chief economist talks to Geneva Solutions about the need for reform and dispels alarmist calls to scrap the whole organisation altogether. He received Geneva Solutions at his office nestled on the second floor of the WTO’s headquarters overlooking the lake. Without venturing into rash predictions, he said he didn’t want MC12 to be a “one-time miracle that happened at Lake Geneva, where 164 countries demonstrated that multilateralism is effective”.
Members of the World Trade Organization Joint Statement Initiative on E-commerce announced Wednesday that they have reached “the substantial conclusion on a number of global digital trade rules.” But the three countries leading the negotiations – Singapore, Australia and Japan – admitted that “challenging proposals” like data flows and localization and source code will require more time for discussion as “divergent approaches and sensitivities remained.” In a press release issued by the three co-convenors from their respective capitals, they said that “as of 20 December 2023, participants have substantially concluded negotiations on 13 articles.”
A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel report has found that Türkiye acted inconsistently with its WTO obligations by imposing additional duties on certain imports from the United States. Türkiye had imposed the duties on US goods in response to the Section 232 duties adopted by the United States in 2018 on imports of steel and aluminum products on national security grounds. The United States filed a dispute against Türkiye’s duties, arguing that Section 232 is a national security measure, and therefore its use does not fall under WTO rules.
The year-end meeting of the World Trade Organization’s General Council appears to have kicked the can on several mandated issues for trade ministers to decide at the upcoming 13th ministerial conference, raising serious questions on the utility of the GC meetings to find any solutions or compromises, said people familiar with the discussions.
World Trade Organization members have agreed to a 3.6% percent hike in the WTO’s regular budget for 2024, an increase of about CHF 7.09 million (approximately $7.1 million) from CHF 197.2 million in 2023 to approximately CHF 204.29 million in 2024. A separate proposal for increased contribution to the WTO Pension fund of CHF 4.4 million (around $4.5 million) was turned down by India, Indonesia and Russia till the Secretariat carries out substantial reforms, said people familiar with the development.
As World Trade Organization members struggle to advance outcomes for the 13th ministerial conference scheduled to take place in two months, the General Council met last week for three days of intensive discussions. The conflicting narratives and goals on fisheries subsidies, agriculture, dispute settlement system reform and issues concerning development among others, may not augur well any likely concrete outcome at the MC13, said several people preferring not to be quoted.
The fate of two mandated decisions from last year’s World Trade Organization 12th ministerial conference on the extension of the TRIPS Agreement to cover COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics and the termination of the 1998 electronic commerce moratorium will dominate the proceedings when the General Council meets on December 14-15. Failure to reach decisions as per the MC12 mandates at this week's GC meeting could cast a dark shadow on the MC13 meeting that is going to start in Abu Dhabi on February 26, said people familiar with the developments.
Questions are being raised about a new report on the relationship between digital trade and development issued jointly by the World Trade Organization along with the International Monetary Fund, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Some of the major findings in the report seem flawed on several grounds, raising serious questions about the use of the report for WTO members, said people engaged in the negotiations.
