{"id":33357,"date":"2018-10-30T11:58:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T06:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=33357"},"modified":"2018-10-30T11:58:18","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T06:28:18","slug":"wto-diverse-views-fuel-bleak-prospect-for-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wto-diverse-views-fuel-bleak-prospect-for-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"WTO: diverse views fuel bleak prospect for outcomes\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/wto-diverse-views-fuel-bleak-prospect-for-outcomes\/article21386433.ece\"><strong>WTO: diverse views fuel bleak prospect for outcomes<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India, China, South Africa lead developing nations in seeking commitment to \u2018multilateralism, development agenda\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>Backdrop<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The World Trade Organisation\u2019s (WTO) Buenos Aires meeting commenced amid concerns on support for anti-globalisation, protectionism and bilateralism<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expectations of the majority member nations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reaffirming commitment to multilateralism and rules-based trading system as well as negotiations with development agenda at the centre<\/p>\n<p><strong>But any resolution doubtful <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>However, due to the divergent views of the WTO members on several issues, including the outstanding ones in the ongoing Doha Round negotiations, there is little expectation that the outcome of the December 10-13 Ministerial Conference would be substantial<\/p>\n<p><strong>No new issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Doha Round had begun in Doha in 2001 with the \u2018development agenda\u2019 \u2014 to improve trading prospects of developing nations \u2014 at the heart of the talks<\/p>\n<p><strong>Developed countries want to discuss: 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century Trade Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>However, countries, mostly from the developed world, want what they call the \u201821st century trade issues\u2019 \u2014 such as e-commerce, investment facilitation, matters relating to small firms and gender equality \u2014 to be discussed for rule-making to enhance the relevance of the WTO.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Developing countries against introduction of such new issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India, and several countries mainly from the developing world, are against introduction of such \u2018new issues\u2019 into the Doha Round, saying it is important to first resolve outstanding issues such as the ones relating to food security and protection of poor farmers before taking up new topics<\/p>\n<p><strong>Issues most likely to be addressed post Buenos Aires meet<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Special Safeguard Mechanism(SSM, which will allow developing nations to temporarily increase tariffs to counter import surges or price declines, and in turn protect poor farmers)<\/li>\n<li>Limiting harmful fisheries subsidies<\/li>\n<li>Possible negotiations on e-commerce<\/li>\n<li>Services trade facilitation(including easing rules regarding movement of professionals and skilled workers across borders for temporary work or projects)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Support for India, China and South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to officials privy to the developments here, India, China and South Africa have the support of around 120 WTO member nations on the issue of continuation of the \u2018development\u2019 mandate of the Doha Round without any dilution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>U.S. efforts questioned<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM), an overwhelming majority of the WTO members have questioned efforts by the U.S. to block the appointment of judges to the appellate body \u2014 a move that they say would undermine the DSM<\/p>\n<p><strong>DSM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The DSM, according to the WTO, is \u201crecognised as a fundamental pillar of the organisation\u201d and \u201cenjoys wide support and confidence among the membership, which values it as a fair, effective and efficient mechanism to solve trade problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>India\u2019s joint proposal with China: backing of 120 member countries<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s joint proposal with China \u2014 asking the developed nations to eliminate the most trade-distorting form of farm subsidies, known in WTO jargon as Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) \u2014 has the backing of about 120 WTO members including from Africa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Developed countries have 90% of Global AMS entitlements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeveloped countries have more than 90% of global AMS entitlements amounting to nearly $160 billion. Most developing countries, including India and China, do not have AMS entitlements,\u201d according to an earlier statement from the Indian government.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018No onerous conditions\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India had made it clear that it would not accept a \u2018permanent solution\u2019 with onerous conditions that in turn make it tough for the [Indian] government or other developing countries as well to meet the food security needs of their people<\/p>\n<p><strong>SSM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On agricultural issues including the \u2018permanent solution\u2019 and SSM, India is working with G-33 (a group of 47 nations).<\/p>\n<p><strong>India gathering support<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To get wide support on India\u2019s interests, India\u2019s commerce minister also met with the South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing nations<\/li>\n<li>Besides, he held a meeting with European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstr\u00f6m and conveyed India\u2019s position on various issues including food security and e-commerce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WTO: diverse views fuel bleak prospect for outcomes\u00a0 Context India, China, South Africa lead developing nations in seeking commitment to \u2018multilateralism, development agenda\u2019 Backdrop The World Trade Organisation\u2019s (WTO) Buenos Aires meeting commenced amid concerns on support for anti-globalisation, protectionism and bilateralism Expectations of the majority member nations Reaffirming commitment to multilateralism and rules-based trading&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wto-diverse-views-fuel-bleak-prospect-for-outcomes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">WTO: diverse views fuel bleak prospect for outcomes\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704710888},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33357","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\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}