Two main demands of India at the Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), one for seeking a permanent solution to the issue of public stock holding for food security and second for keeping e-commerce outside any negotiating mandate has remained on course even as countries enter into a phase of intense negotiations over the next two days. The Ministerial conference ends on December 13, 2017.
India will also look to block the demand from some member countries that are part of the group called ‘Friends of Investment Facilitation’ to appoint a facilitator minister on the issue of investment facilitation for development. India is of the view that the WTO should first focus on issues related to the Doha Round instead of bringing in new issues. Currently, there are five facilitator ministers appointed by the Chairperson of the Ministerial Conference, Susana Malcorra, the former foreign minister of Argentina. These facilitator ministers are for agriculture, services, e-commerce, fishery subsidies and development.
On the issue of public stock holding for food security issues, India has reached out to like-minded countries and will hold public meeting to emphasise and articulate its position on this issue. The Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu, held a lunch meeting for developing country members on Sunday that was attended by over 22 countries including China, South Africa, and Indonesia besides countries from South Asia, Africa and Caribbean in a bid to garner greater support on issues advocated by New Delhi.
On e-commerce India is expected to take tough stance against any push for seeking a negotiating mandate at the WTO and is expected to link the demand for negotiations to the current temporary moratorium on electronic transmissions.
India is expected to make it clear that any further development on the 1998 mandate on e-commerce may mean revisiting some of the current moratoriums that exist in the WTO like the one available on TRIPS. India will stick to the current position of the G-33 countries on public stock holding that states that there is a need for a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding that brings down the onerous responsibilities of transparency on countries.
It is important to note that only eight countries in WTO have managed to meet these onerous responsibilities of transparency of notifications that has been imposed by the Bali Peace clause on public stock holding for food security issues. Second, India will seek to get legal permanence on the issue of public stock holding for food security that may include seeking changes to the current WTO rules, officials said. Third, India will join the demand of some of the other G-33 countries that would want countries to be allowed to bring in new programmes under this public stock holding initiative. The next two-day are expected to lead to intense negotiations with countries looking to introduce some texts for acceptance by other member countries.
The areas where texts for a possible movement forward are expected in areas such as agriculture, public stock holding, export restrictions, and domestic regulations in services. The heads of delegation meeting on late Monday evening is expected to provide some pointers to the possible convergence or differences among countries as current positions may change based on individual interests and quid pro cos.