Processes streamlined for WTO meet next month

NEW DELHI: In a move to systematically deal with issues like agriculture and e-commerce at the key ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation ( WTO) next month, director general Roberto Azevedo has suggested ‘minister facilitators’ at the conference to convene meetings and facilitate negotiations.

“For the sake of the orderly management of the meeting, we are considering options for appointing a few 'minister facilitators' who will work with the negotiating chairs in Buenos Aires,” WTO DG Roberto Azevedo said.

The initial idea is to have five facilitators for issues in agriculture, development, rules, e-commerce and services but proponents of other subjects like investment facilitation and micro, small and medium enterprises can bring in their own chairs at the ministerial.

The move assumes significance in the wake of countries complaining of non-transparent processes on taking decisions in the run up to the previous ministerial in Nairobi.

It is also important for India as many countries are trying to build consensus on opening cross border digital trade, an issue that India has opposed.

Moreover, since the previous ministerial in Nairobi failed to get a clear consensus on the future of the Doha development agenda, India reiterated its stance to first deal with the issues which were already under negotiation, before moving on to new ones. as developed countries like the US, EU and Japan and a few developing ones like Singapore are opposed to these and want new subjects like e-commerce, investment facilitation, fisheries and MSMEs to brought in the ambit of WTO's multilateral discourse.