WTO conference: the main issues

GENEVA, Switzerland  —Fisheries, agriculture and WTO reform will be at the heart of intense negotiations when trade ministers from around the world gather in Abu Dhabi later this month.

Big deals are unlikely during the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial meeting, since its rules require full consensus among all 164 member states. However, observers say significant progress could be made on several fronts.

Here are the main issues on the table during the Feb 26-29 conference.

Fisheries: the next step

During the WTO’s last ministerial meeting, held at its Geneva headquarters in June 2022, trade ministers managed to nail down a historic agreement banning harmful fisheries subsidies, after more than two decades of negotiations.

The agreement banned subsidies that contribute to fishing that is illegal, unreported or unregulated, as well as for fishing of overstretched stocks and in unregulated high seas, with additional flexibility baked in for developing nations.

READ: WTO launches second wave of fishing subsidy talks

The agreement, which has yet to take effect, was seen as a major achievement, marking just the second accord concluded by the WTO’s full membership since the global trade body was created in 1995, and the first focused on environmental protection.

In Abu Dhabi, countries are aiming to finalize a “second wave” of negotiations toward broadening the net to also include a ban on subsidies that contribute to overfishing more broadly.

While observers say agreement on the second portion of the deal is possible, the negotiations will not be easy.

One bone of contention is the text’s two-tier approach, entailing greater surveillance, constraints and penalties for the countries that dish out most fishery subsidies.

Another sticking point is a demand from India, which single-handedly forced WTO members to water down the initial agreement, for a 25-year transition period — something many countries reject as too long.

COVID booster?

Despite the very vocal resistance from pharmaceutical companies and their host countries, WTO members in 2022 agreed to a temporary patent waiver for Covid-19 vaccines, aimed at providing more equitable access to jabs.

But they pushed off efforts to extend the waiver to patents for other products needed to fight the pandemic, like tests and treatments.

The plan had been to decide on that issue by December 2022, but the deadline was repeatedly postponed amid continued disagreement.

It now appears that India and South Africa, who championed the waiver, have given up the fight.

Fallow harvest for agriculture?

Agriculture has always been a highly sensitive issue at the heart of discussions at the WTO.

READ: WTO negotiations on ‘right path’ on key issues, says head

At a ministerial meeting in 2015, WTO members took the historic decision to eliminate export subsidies for agricultural products.

Many now want action on domestic measures that distort trade.

Discussions revolve around issues including market access and export competition and restrictions.

Food security will once again be on the agenda, with deep disagreement over a demand from India and others for a temporary measure, allowing countries to hold public stockpiles of food, to be made permanent.

They also want it extended to encompass all developing countries and to include other staples like cotton.

Several countries are fiercely opposed to those moves, warning that such public stocks, if released beyond a country’s borders, could disrupt global food markets.

Elusive reform

Since its creation in 1995, the WTO is credited with facilitating globalization by making international trade more fluid.

But weighed down with the post-Cold War rules it inherited from its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the organization is struggling to show it remains relevant.

Since her arrival at the WTO helm in 2021, director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has infused fresh energy into that quest, and during the ministerial meeting a year later, countries agreed to a roadmap towards reform.

But so far the discussions have only progressed on smaller technical issues rather than on reforming the organization itself and its rules.

Among the rules up for debate is one allowing countries themselves to decide if they should be labelled a developing nation, and access the trade benefits that entails.

WTO dispute settlement system

The fact that China is among the countries to claim that label has sparked calls from Washington and others to demand an end to the self-declaration practice.

Perhaps the thorniest issue is how to overhaul the WTO’s embattled dispute settlement system.

Washington brought the WTO’s Appellate Body to a grinding halt in December 2019 after years of blocking the appointment of new judges.

The United States had long accused the appeals court of unfair treatment and overreach, insisting it could not rule on issues involving “national security”.

Countries agreed during the 2022 ministerial to get a new system up and running this year, but so far the discussions appear hopelessly blocked.