WTOs 5th day meet: Talks on to break impasse over agriculture, fisheries issues

Abu Dhabi, Feb 29 (PTI) WTO ministerial meeting has been extended by a day amid hectic parleys to bridge differences between developed and emerging economies on issues such as agriculture, fisheries subsidies, and e-commerce moratorium. According to a communication by the multilateral trade body World Trade Organisation, the closing session of the four-day talks is […]

New Delhi [India], January 18 (ANI): India asserted that it will not engage in negotiations in any other aspects of the agriculture sector until a permanent solution is reached on public stockholding for food grains by WTO members, according to government sources. The upcoming 13th ministerial conference (MC) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), scheduled […]

India has called for text-based negotiations to find a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The European Union (EU) has expressed readiness for talks on the matter. The issue was discussed at an agriculture negotiations meeting in Geneva, where the EU responded positively to the chair's suggestions regarding safeguards and anti-circumvention measures. India emphasized the importance of discussing external reference prices and recalculating subsidy limits.

Implementation of proposals in the WTO is challenging. The previous agreement to temporarily remove intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines and discuss extending the waiver to diagnostics and therapeutics appears unlikely to be implemented

The EU has proposed that these issues be taken up as part of reforming the multilateral trade watchdog. Many proponents are calling MC13 as a reform ministerial . The EU has identified three areas of systemic importance - trade policy and state intervention in support of industrial sectors, global environmental challenges, and trade and inclusiveness - to reinvigorate the deliberative function of the WTO.

Piyush Goyal said that India “firmly believes that any measures taken to combat climate change, including unilateral ones, should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade”.

The European Union has expressed its willingness to negotiate on global trade norms regarding the purchase, stockpiling, and distribution of food to ensure food security. This is seen as a breakthrough as India and 80 other countries have been calling for a deal on food security, arguing that current rules do not adequately address market failures such as food hoarding and market speculation. The EU has shown a willingness to negotiate the issue of public stockholding with India, which has proposed a permanent solution that considers inflation and recent reference prices.

A revised text on agriculture circulated in the afternoon offered two options either adopting a permanent solution at the MC13 or members intensify negotiations at the committee of agriculture to arrive at a permanent solution for food security purposes available to all developing country members.

In a WTO meeting, Piyush Goyal put forward New Delhi's approach to the issue saying that public procurement and stockholding of food grains serve the twin objectives of food security and income support to marginal farmers. The 19-member Cairns group, which includes agri-exporting nations, lobbies for agricultural trade liberalisation. It was formed in 1986 in Cairns, Australia.

The key issue of India’s interests at the meeting relates to finding permanent solution for its MSP issue for food security, agricultural reforms, among...