WTO MC13 extended to fifth day, hectic parleys on to end deadlock
13th ministerial conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) got extended and entered into the fifth day as the 166-members couldn’t reach a consensus on key issues of agriculture, fisheries subsidies, ending the moratorium on imposing customs duties on e-commerce transmissions and dispute resolution reform.
Moreover, talks on elements on trade inclusiveness, women’s participation in trade, industrial policy and environment, in the draft Abu Dhabi package also remained unresolved.
“Members are indicating that additional time will be needed to iron out some of the outstanding issues,” said an official, adding that, for this reason, the informal meeting of heads of delegation and the formal closing session were postponed to Friday.
“At this session, Ministers are expected to take action on the draft package of documents,” the WTO said in a communication.
In a key development, officials said that Brazil said it wanted the termination of the e-commerce moratorium.
“Brazil has called for the termination for the first time in many years,” said an official.
The EU wanted to link agricultural talks with environmental sustainability while India’s proposal on lowering the cost of remittances, which found support from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, was opposed by the US. The EU’s counter proposal to dilute the proposal and link it with financial inclusion, was opposed by New Delhi.
However, the ministerial has managed to get atleast five outcomes such as new disciplines on services domestic regulation that
