World Trade Organization members attending a retreat on Thursday reiterated well-known positions on a wide array of reform issues ranging from dispute settlement to environmental engagement to the role of multilateralism and plurilateralism, according to a Geneva-based official.
The chair of the WTO’s General Council, Swiss ambassador Didier Chambovey, proposed the retreat after similar meetings were scheduled to discuss agricultural issues and fisheries subsidies. All members were invited to attend.
But the discussions did not break new ground or cover specific ideas on how to move forward with the reform discussions, the official said, though a WTO statement said Chambovey called the discussions constructive. He said he hoped members “would continue working in a pragmatic and cooperative spirit to deliver meaningful WTO reforms for the benefit of all Members and their respective stakeholders,” it added.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, according to the statement, was “impressed by the level and seriousness of Members' engagement and the substantive exchanges. While there were difficult issues to address along the way, the dialogue had been important to move along the path to WTO Reform - not as an end in itself, but as a means to helping trade and the WTO deliver for members.”
The discussion centered on two questions, the official said: “What should be accomplished to take advantage of available opportunities, address the challenges the WTO is facing, and ensure the WTO’s proper function?” and “How can members best structure the WTO reform process in order to steer the discussion toward realistic and meaningful outcomes?”
WTO members were broken into five groups for breakout discussions, with each group representative of the larger membership. But those group discussions didn’t break new ground.
For instance, one topic was the role that plurilateralism -- the WTO’s Joint Statement Initiatives -- plays in the multilateral process, according to the official. Participants in the JSI discussions say they are an effective way to move negotiations forward when they would otherwise be stalled, while other WTO members claim the talks take away from other priorities, like unfinished Doha Developmental Agenda items. JSIs came about because Doha round negotiations stalled and some WTO members sought a way to discuss new issues outside of a single undertaking.
Some WTO members, the official said, are similarly emphasizing a need to approach reform issues as a single undertaking in which “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.” Okonjo-Iweala instead told members to “be ambitious, but realistic” and to “pick low-hanging fruit.” Many members agreed with that assessment, according to the official, saying that they should focus on what is doable rather than take an “all-or-nothing approach.”
WTO members should focus on concrete deliverables or milestones by the next ministerial conference, the General Council chair said.
The issue of development came up often during the retreat, according to the official, with many developing countries calling for it to be a top priority in the reform discussions. Many developing countries believe their positions have not been respected and pointed to the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO as an outline for what the organization’s priorities should be: Namely, to raise standards, ensure full employment and growing real income, and expand trade in goods and services.
Similarly, some members contended the WTO should not be so focused on environmentally oriented negotiations. The WTO is a trade organization, they contended, and other fora exist to negotiate climate-related provisions. A focus on the environment takes away from more important issues, they claim, like Doha round agenda items.
These members received pushback from others, as well as Okonjo-Iweala. Climate change is having a direct impact on trade, she contended -- rivers are drying up, agricultural producers are experiencing massive droughts. Some countries are drawing up and implementing environmental provisions that have trade implications. The U.S. has done so via the Inflation Reduction Act, which many trading partners have suggested violate WTO rules.
WTO members should take into account carbon pricing and environmentally focused subsidies, the director-general said. A WTO report issued earlier this week called climate change a “major threat” to trade.
Institutional issues, such as the frequency of WTO ministerials, were also discussed, according to the official. Some members have suggested de-emphasizing the biennial ministerial by holding one every year. Some developing members disagreed with this approach because they said they do not have the resources for such large annual undertakings.
Dispute settlement was another top priority for members, Chambovey said, according to the official. The General Council chair is largely deferring to the U.S.-led efforts on dispute settlement reform, the official said, and discussions about those efforts did not take place at the retreat. Some members said dispute settlement reform must include the reinstatement of the Appellate Body, which the U.S. has dismantled by blocking appointments to it.
The U.S. has said that fixing the dispute settlement system cannot be disconnected from other WTO reforms. -- Brett Fortnam (bfortnam@iwpnews.com)