World Trade Organization members cannot agree on who will lead negotiations on agriculture and fisheries subsidies even though many countries insist those issues are among their top priorities.
The naming of chairs for the two negotiations is considered critical for any progress to be made, as members themselves argued during two recent retreats aimed at brainstorming paths forward in the agriculture and fisheries subsidies talks. But during an informal General Council meeting on Tuesday, the chair told members that while two candidates enjoy the most support, members have not yet reached consensus.
“[O]n the basis of the consultations we conducted,” Turkish Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy and Norwegian Ambassador Petter Ølberg – for the agriculture and fisheries subsidies negotiations, respectively – “enjoy the highest level of acceptance,” Swiss Ambassador Didier Chambovey, the General Council chair, said in a Monday notice of the meeting, according to a copy obtained by Inside U.S. Trade.
The notice referenced an Oct. 26 communication from Chambovey that presented the two candidates and asked members to submit comments on the pair by Friday. Based on these comments, the notice says, “I am therefore regrettably not yet in a position to confirm consensus on these appointments.”
New Zealand Ambassador Clare Kelly was put forward as a candidate for agriculture negotiations chair alongside Acarsoy; Sri Lankan Ambassador Gothami Silva is the other candidate for the fisheries subsidies, trade officials in Geneva with direct knowledge of Tuesday’s meeting told Inside U.S. Trade.
Sixteen members took the floor during the meeting, according to one of the officials; the U.S was not one of them.
Members during the meeting debated whether the two negotiating chairs should be adopted as a package or one by one. Several of the 16 members to take the floor – largely developing countries – advocated for the latter, arguing that if there is consensus for the Turkish ambassador to be agriculture chair, he should be installed, according to the official.
However, the European Union disputed this claim of consensus and maintained the two must be a package deal to reflect geographic and developmental diversity. The EU said it had compromised and acquiesced to Acarsoy as the next agriculture negotiations chair only with the understanding that Ølberg would be installed at the same time as chair of the fisheries subsidies talks, according to one of the officials.
Chambovey, the General Council chair, said he and the two ambassadors aiding him in the process – former General Council Chair Dacio Castillo, of Honduras, and Dispute Settlement Body Chair Athaliah Molokomme, of Botswana – had determined that moving forward on both at the same time had the highest chance of garnering consensus, this official added.
Silva, of Sri Lanka, was among the ambassadors to take the floor. She touted her credentials for the fisheries subsidies chair job and criticized the consultation process led by Chambovey. Other members pushed back, though, defending the chair’s process as transparent and effective, the official noted.
In addition, both officials said parts of her remarks came across as denigrating to the previous chair and to the other candidate for the position; one called her intervention “odd” and “undiplomatic.”
Silva’s candidacy was supported during Tuesday’s meeting by India and Venezuela, according to one of the officials. During the fisheries subsidies talks ahead of, and during, the 12th ministerial conference, Sri Lanka backed India’s push for expansive carveouts that were not otherwise widely supported by the membership, including other developing members.
The Sri Lankan ambassador was previously up for the post during the search for a new fisheries subsidies talks chair in 2019. India blocked the appointment of the Brazilian ambassador to the post and backed the Sri Lankan ambassador then as well. The position in 2019 eventually was filled by then-Colombian Ambassador Santiago Wills, who chaired the negotiations through MC12, securing a pared-down agreement – the first new multilateral rules in nearly a decade. -- Hannah Monicken (hmonicken@iwpnews.com)
