On the first day of the 14th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Cameroon, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal called for a restoration of the automatic and binding dispute settlement system, and that Special and differential treatment (S&DT) should be “precise, effective and operational”.
His statement assumes significance as 120 members have backed the China-led proposal for a new Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) framework to be included in the WTO mandate through Annex 4, which is a plurilateral route. A meeting on the issue is likely among the participants of the proposed pact on Saturday, the third day of the ongoing MC14.
India has been opposing the IFD as it is a “non-mandated, non-multilateral issue” and there is a WTO decision of 2004 which prohibits negotiations on investment facilitation. The IFD aims to create a pre-investment appeal system to screen investments through an independent body, constraining policy flexibility.
“The incorporation of plurilateral outcomes into the WTO framework should be based on consensus and not impair existing rights of non-parties or cast additional obligations on them,” Goyal said, insisting that the past mandates should be delivered on priority.
On the issue of continuation of the 28-year moratorium on e-commerce transmissions, Goyal said: “In the absence of a common understanding among Members on the scope of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions and given its potentially significant implications, the continued extension of this moratorium warrants careful reconsideration”.
At her opening remarks, WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke about a “workable solution on the extension of the e-commerce moratorium and work programme” and said that development is not just about special privileges or rights but also about what investment and growth will be like in all countries particularly the least developed countries.“One important avenue for growth is encouraging investment…You will have a chance to consider their request for incorporation of this agreement into the WTO rulebook alongside existing plurilaterals,” she said.
Goyal stated that the necessary reform of WTO should be carried out through a transparent, inclusive and member-driven process, keeping development at its core, upholding the principles of non-discrimination, consensus-based decision making and equity.
Emphasising that agriculture is critical to the livelihoods of millions, he said that for Global South, Permanent Solution on Public Stockholding for food security purposes, Special Safeguard Mechanism and Cotton are long-pending mandated issues and must be deliver on them “on priority”.
India said it remains committed to negotiating a comprehensive Fisheries Subsidies Agreement that balances current and future fishing needs, protects the livelihoods of poor fishers, with appropriate and effective S&DT.
The multilateral trading system must also ensure that innovation, development and opportunity are shared equitably among members.
Okonjo-Iweala warned that the world trading system is experiencing the “worst disruptions in the past 80 years” and that the world order and multilateral system “we used to know has irrevocably changed” and “will not get it back”
She said that though tariffs and uncertainty had a dampening effect, but these were offset by import frontloading, the AI investment boom and favourable macroeconomic conditions.
She added that the WTO’s benefits go well beyond tariffs and rules in areas such as customs valuation and intellectual property provide the ‘shared software’ for trade transactions as without them, there would be delays, uncertainty and higher costs at borders.
On the Dispute Settlement System, she said that the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement is “functioning well as a second-tier arbitration/appeals mechanism”.