WTO Summit extended by a day as consensus eludes nations on all issues

WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Image: AFP)

As member nations struggle to compromise on almost all key issues, the 12th annual summit of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has now been extended. It will now end on 16 June, with the closing session scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM Indian Standard Time on Thursday after an intervention by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The once-in-two-year mega meeting of trade ministers from all 164 World Trade Organization (WTO) member nations, which legislate on global trade is ongoing and has seen tense discussions on almost all issues.

The WTO Director-General called on member nations to go the extra mile to find convergence on the various issues at stake at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) and to be mindful that time is running out to conclude meaningful agreements.

"On the third day of the ministerial gathering, WTO members continued efforts towards reaching a long-awaited agreement on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies and reaffirmed their intention to pursue convergence on texts related to agriculture," the WTO said.

Heavy fighting

Fisheries subsidies and agriculture have emerged as especially hard points of negotiation. A long-planned, but never enforced global deal at the WTO aimed at banning fishing subsidies to protect marine ecosystems from overfishing and habitat collapse has seen increased fighting. Overwhelmingly statements made by members stressed the need to conclude an agreement after more than 20 years of discussions.

India has said that developed nations with huge industrial fleets of vessels that have systematically exploited oceanic resources and contributed to overfishing should be held responsible and a stronger global regime should be enforced to rein them in.

Meanwhile, a proposed global declaration to not curb foodgrain exports to the World Food Programme (WFP), which seeks to fight hunger in places hit by conflicts, disasters, and climate change, has been blocked by India. Officials have told Moneycontrol that India will not yield to pressure and is not willing to accept the plan when its right to stockpile food grains is still not accepted.

On the third day of the summit, a proposed global declaration to not curb foodgrain exports to the World Food Programme (WFP), which seeks to fight hunger in places hit by conflicts, disasters, and climate change, is one of the main items on the agenda. The declaration will be binding and goes against the demands of India to exercise its right to control its food exports.

In the aftermath of a global shortage of wheat due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both major growers of the cereal, and unseasonal hot weather destroying crops, food security has become the central topic of discussion at the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO.

“WTO members' positions were not as flexible as I would have wished them to be at this point,” Timur Suleimenov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of Kazakhstan and the current MC12 Chair said. He stressed that he did not witness the flexibility and self-restraint expressed by members the day before during discussions on the pandemic, including on the intellectual property (IP) response that was missing on Wednesday.

“Any attempt to backload the final 22 hours of this conference only increases the chance that all of us will go home empty-handed. And I know that this is contrary to what the world expects from us,” he added.