Seventeen developing and least developed countries, representing about 100
members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), have called for
strengthening of the special & differential treatment (S&DT) mechanism that
entitles them to concessions and flexibilities and strengthening of the
multilateral trading system.
“S&DT provisions are the rights of developing members that must be
preserved and strengthened in both current and future WTO agreements,
with priority attention to outstanding LDC issues,” said the joint declaration
agreed to by 17 countries that participated in the informal ministerial
meeting of developing countries here.
The signatories include Egypt, Barbados, Central African Republic, Nigeria,
Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Benin, Chad, India,
Indonesia, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Oman. Among countries that
participated in the meeting but did not sign the declaration as they could not
get the required consent from their governments were Argentina and Brazil.
Interestingly, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, in his inaugural
address on Monday evening, said the S&DT mechanism must be innovative
in order to address the impasse and cautioned that if left unaddressed it may
go either way
“The ideal way is to have a benchmark because the differentiation is already
happening and is essential for small developing countries,” he said.
Countries such as India, China and South Africa, however, are strongly
resisting attempts made by some rich WTO members, including the US and
the EU, to re-define S&DT and deprive larger developing countries from the
benefit.
“India’s position on S&DT is very clear. It is an essential part of the WTO
mechanism. India does not believe in further classification of countries,” said
JS Deepak, India’s Permanent Representative to the WTO.While the joint declaration does not talk about the on-going plurilateral
negotiations on e-commerce at the WTO between 75 member countries, it
mentions the need to preserve the multilateral process.
“Multilateral avenues, based on consensus, remain the most effective means
to achieve inclusive development-oriented outcomes….. We note that in the
post-MC 11 (Eleventh Ministerial Conference) phase, many members have
evinced interest in pursuing outcomes in some areas through joint initiatives
approach. The outcomes of these initiatives should be conducive to
strengthening the multilateral trading system and be consistent with WTO
rules,” the statement said.
Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said that while joint initiatives are
viewed differently by different members, none of the poorer countries want
undermining of developing country concerns.
“Even as far as e-commerce is concerned, the digital divide, the fact that ecommerce
space is dominated by multinationals of developed countries and
their practices such as pricing policy are being questioned in the developed
world, are serious concerns,” Wadhawan said.
Appellate Body vacancies
The countries also urged all WTO members to engage constructively to
address the challenge without any delay in filling the vacancies in the
Appellate Body, while continuing discussions on other issues relating to the
functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, India Thursday, 16 May 2019