{"id":191366,"date":"2022-06-20T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T14:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=191366"},"modified":"2022-06-20T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T14:49:07","slug":"the-wto-restores-faith-in-convergence-of-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-wto-restores-faith-in-convergence-of-views\/","title":{"rendered":"The WTO restores faith in convergence of views"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News<\/strong>: The WTO deal in Geneva confirms that it is still possible for the world\u2019s countries to achieve a modest consensus. India has played a worthy role, even if its gains are far from dramatic.<\/p>\n

What were the difficult circumstances prevailing before the WTO’s 12th ministerial?<\/h5>\n

That a deal went through was victory in itself. Ahead of its 12th ministerial conference, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was up against stiff odds.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> There was a question mark on its credibility <\/strong>as an arbiter of trade disputes<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> Ukraine war was making the idea of each country for itself seem like the operative reality after basic principles of trade fell victim to Cold War II.<\/p>\n

What is the significance of the deal?<\/h5>\n

Considering the tough circumstances before the ministerial, the expectations of any tangible outcome were dim.<\/p>\n

Yet, 164 countries were nudged towards consensus, and the WTO managed to forge a package of pacts\u2014the first such in nine years<\/strong>\u2014on food security, fishing subsidies <\/strong>and a vaccine patent waiver. <\/strong><\/p>\n

As an assertive voice at the table, India played a significant role<\/strong> in the last of these.<\/p>\n

WTO curbs on fishing subsidies are only the second multilateral agreement on global trade rules struck in its 27-year history<\/strong>. Since even a single vote of dissent can spoil a deal, this was impressive.<\/p>\n

What are the key constituents of the deal?<\/h5>\n

Fishing subsidies<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The inclusion in trade talks of ecological concerns like the threat posed by large-scale overfishing to marine life had once raised eyebrows, but the deal confirmed acceptance of it.<\/p>\n

India’s stance<\/strong>: In contrast with the state-supported fishing industries of rich nations, India’s 9 million odd fisherfolk cannot be accused of global fish stock depletion.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> Under the Geneva deal, India’s subsidy support for fishing at current levels can carry on for at least four years<\/strong>;<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> a proposed ban on subsidized overfishing was dropped.<\/p>\n

On food security<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Another clutch of Indian demands on food, including the right to mop up foodgrain to feed the needy, has been pushed forth to the next ministerial meeting.<\/p>\n

Patent waiver<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

India’s most noteworthy win was on a proposal it had pushed along with South Africa – A patent waiver window of five years to make and export covid vaccines.<\/p>\n

– Significance<\/strong>: This is rather late in the day, and may not do much to fix vaccine inequity, and leaves therapeutic and diagnostic stuff for later talks. Still, it also signifies a WTO dilution of its position<\/strong> that any easing of intellectual property protection would hurt pharma incentives for innovation.<\/p>\n

Way forward<\/h5>\n

None of the mini deals struck qualify as big fillips for international trade. But in a fractured world faced with huge challenges of cooperation, the deal has opened up paths of possibility.<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article \u201cThe WTO restores faith in convergence of views<\/strong>\u201d published in Livemint<\/strong> on 19th June 22<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: The WTO deal in Geneva confirms that it is still possible for the world\u2019s countries to achieve a modest consensus. India has played a worthy role, even if its gains are far from dramatic. What were the difficult circumstances prevailing before the WTO’s 12th ministerial? That a deal went through was victory in itself.… Continue reading The WTO restores faith in convergence of views<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10501],"class_list":["post-191366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-live-mint","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700809702,"cached_date":1704702745},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}