Farm talks: India refuses to share WTO DG’s enthusiasm for facilitator-led process
In a clear disregard of WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s observation of “convergence” emerging towards a facilitator-led process for agriculture trade liberalisation negotiations at the WTO, India has insisted that the past mandate to address public stockholding issue (including MSP), closely linked to food and livelihood security, has to be prioritised, according to Geneva-based trade officials.
“At the recent heads of delegation meeting at the WTO, India said that the Ministerial mandate to address the long pending issues of public stock holding, special safeguard mechanism and cotton issues in dedicated sessions, separate from broader agriculture negotiations, needs to be respected,” the official said.
A facilitator-led process to advance the agriculture negotiations has been proposed in an initiative from the Chair of the agriculture negotiations at the WTO. The idea behind the proposal is to facilitate engagement among members on the different topics under negotiations in a focused and interactive manner with a view to articulating a pathway forward and making substantive progress in the negotiations.
“The WTO DG said that she detected a large convergence, but not consensus, which was emerging in support of the facilitator-led process as it was being seen as a good way for progress in the agriculture negotiations,” the official said.
Five facilitators
Per the initial proposal, a total of five facilitators would be appointed to discuss five specific areas: public stockholding (PSH), special safeguard mechanism (SSM) and cotton; domestic support; market access; food security, sustainability and transparency; other issues, including export competition and export restrictions
“Indicating lack of support for the proposed facilitator-led process, the Indian representative said that the process could lead to subversion of the Ministerial mandates and take the negotiations backwards,” the official pointed out.
India was also apprehensive that the process may not be inclusive, transparent and neutral and could lead to the creation of new pillars that would complicate the negotiations even more than before.
The DG responded by noting that the proposed process would ensure forward movement in the negotiations, and it was not regressive. Stating that traditional methods for negotiations had not given substantial results for over two and a half decades and members have to keep an open mind while ensuring that existing mandates are respected.
Okonjo-Iweala further asserted that the initiative would facilitate negotiations in the areas India was interested in and challenged the assumption that it would create new pillars.
The African Group, represented by Chad, too raised concerns about the proposed facilitator process. It said that developing countries suffering from food crisis should be the focus and there was need for a more inclusive, open, and bottom-up approach.
Three pillars
The three pillars of agriculture negotiations at the WTO include domestic support, market access and export competition. India has maintained that it will not start negotiations on agricultural issues of interest to many developed nations, including lowering import duties or taking more commitments on export competition till the old mandate of finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding is met.
India wants provisions that will allow it to continue with its MSP programme, that supports poor farmers and contributes to food security, without being subject to challenge or unfair disciplines.