WTO Summit | For the first time in 7 years, nations set to strike deals on global Covid vaccine waiver, fisheries subsidies

World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland

The latest global summit of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is set to end soon with tentative deals on a global intellectual property rights (IPR) waiver for Covid vaccines and fishing subsidies to protect ocean resources, officials said. While India had pushed for more comprehensive measures in these areas, as well as for talks on agriculture, the final outcome has been backed by New Delhi as promising.

The once-in-two-year mega meeting of trade ministers from all 164 WTO member nations which legislate on global trade has concluded in Geneva, Switzerland.

The closing session was postponed thrice on Thursday as talks stretched amidst major differences remaining on key issues. As a result, an official statement from the WTO was still awaited at the time of this story being published. A final deal being reached would be only the second time in seen year that the global body has found a definitive consensus on an issue.

"India is convinced that this will turn out to be one of most successful ministerials that the WTO has seen in a long time," Commerce & Industry minister Piyush Goyal, who is leading India's delegation to the WTO, said a few hours back.

While the conferences have always been dramatic, the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) saw deeper faultlines appear amidst nations who dug into their positions.

Patent waiver

An agreement to speed up deliveries of Covid vaccines to the poorest nations are expected to see the light of day, albeit in a reduced scope.

Nearly 20 months after India proposed to temporarily suspend certain parts of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) so that vaccines and testing technology for COVID-19 could be easily shared, WTO members finally agreed to suspend IPR measures for manufacturing and transferring Covid vaccines.

Suspending parts of the TRIPS agreement would allow countries to overcome the legal challenges posed by patents to ensure the timely provisioning of affordable medical products.

However, at MC12 the developed nations have been allowed to cover only vaccines as part of the agreement and leave out all other treatments, diagnostics, or other COVID-19 technologies.

The agreement is seen by opponents as too narrow in scope because reports from the WTO headquarters in Geneva have suggested that the latest text focuses solely on the use of the compulsory licensing system. This would allow governments to permit the manufacture of vaccines and other medicines without infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights during an emergency such as a pandemic.

Fishing subsidy 

Officials also said that a tentative agreement on banning fishing subsidies is also being given the finishing touches to. The long-planned, but never enforced global deal at the WTO aims at banning fishing subsidies to protect marine ecosystems from overfishing and habitat collapse. India and other developing nations are expected to get special concessions to adjust to the the new rules.

While the WTO is reported to be considering incremental restrictions on fishing subsidies, industrial subsidies such as those on fuel is heavily tipped to be left out of the final text.

Goyal had said on Wednesday 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.

No permanent solution

Agriculture remained one of the hardest sticking points in the talks. Overwhelmingly statements made by members stressed the need to conclude an agreement after more than 20 years of discussions but there has been little forward movement till now, officials said.

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 set to pass in a modified form after being blocked by India.

Officials had 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. The final text is expected to be binding declaration but will allow India to exercise its right to control its food exports.