At a 13-15 December meeting of the WTO’s General Council, members heard from the Chair of the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), H.E. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates, on preparations for MC13, which will take place in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. Members also approved a budget increase for the WTO Secretariat for the 2024/2025 biennium following 12 years of zero nominal growth.
Minister Al Zeyoudi told members that there are now just 10 weeks from the start of MC13 and that members must intensify their work to bridge remaining gaps on key issues where the international community needs action.
Referring to the two “mini-ministerials” which he chaired on 28 November and 11 December, Minister Al Zeyoudi said most ministers stuck to their well-known positions and that it was now time to start shifting gears if members really want to have an outcome that is going to serve the global community.
Minister Al Zeyoudi said he is discussing with the General Council Chair, Ambassador Athaliah Molokomme of Botswana, and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the way forward. He said he is looking forward to working with everyone and welcoming them to Abu Dhabi.
The Director-General reiterated the call she made to members at the Trade Negotiations Committee meeting on 12 December to redouble efforts in closing as many gaps as possible in Geneva in advance of MC13.
MC13 will take place in Abu Dhabi from 26 to 29 February 2024.
Budget increase approved
Members agreed to increase the WTO’s operational budget by 3.6% — from CHF 197.2 million to CHF 204.9 million — for 2024 and 2025 in light of increased inflation and contractual obligations. This includes an increase of CHF 0.73 million for the International Trade Centre, a multilateral agency with a joint mandate with the WTO and the United Nations. This is the WTO’s first increase in its operating budget in 12 years.
The Chair of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration, Ambassador Bettina Waldmann of Germany, thanked members for helping find a landing zone for the budget deal.
The Director-General also thanked members, saying it will help the Secretariat “do our job better for you” and demonstrated that members can step up for the organization and deliver in Geneva.
WTO reform
The General Council Chair, Ambassador Molokomme, noted that four informal meetings on WTO reform were held during the course of 2023, focusing on development, the WTO’s deliberative function and institutional matters, trade and industrial policy, and, at senior officials level, trade and environmental sustainability. In addition, “reform by doing” work has also progressed this year. For example, the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) adopted a report on 30 November capturing 127 concrete steps taken since the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022 to improve the functioning and efficiency of the Council and its 14 subsidiary bodies.
“As we inch closer to MC13, WTO reform has become an important element of our preparations to ensure a successful Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi,” she said, adding that members are currently working on a section on WTO reform for a possible MC13 outcome document.
Ministers agreed at MC12 on a process for addressing longstanding calls for reform of the WTO. The MC12 outcome document commits members to work towards reform of the organization to improve all its functions through an open, transparent and inclusive process.
Extension of the TRIPS waiver decision to therapeutics and diagnostics
The Chair of the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Ambassador Pimchanok Pitfield of Thailand, reported that discussions under paragraph 8 of the MC12 TRIPS Decision on whether to extend the scope of the decision to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics have been ongoing formally and informally over the past few months.
To further broaden the basis for fact and evidence-based discussions, the TRIPS Council also held a thematic session in September for external stakeholder input while members were briefed in October on the report on COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics and TRIPS flexibilities by the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).
Despite this continued engagement, Ambassador Pitfield said there is currently no consensus among members on whether to extend the MC12 Decision to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. In her most recent meetings and consultations, members have reiterated their well-known and diverging positions, she said, adding that she stands ready to continue facilitating members’ engagement on this question as appropriate.
Ambassador Pitfield also said despite consultations and the continued discussion at the TRIPS Council on a recommendation to ministers to extend once again the moratorium on non-violation and situation complaints (NVSCs) under the TRIPS Agreement, members were unable to reach consensus.
Both items, namely paragraph 8 of the TRIPS Decision and NVSCs, remain open on the TRIPS Council’s agenda so that the Council meeting can be resumed at any time if members are in a position to reach a conclusion on these issues.
Report by the facilitator on the E-commerce Work Programme and moratorium
Ambassador Usha Dwarka-Canabady of Mauritius, the facilitator of the WTO Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, provided a report on work and developments since the November General Council meeting. She noted that members were presented with a joint study by the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank and the WTO in response to calls for more engagement on this issue and for evidence-based analysis. She also noted that members discussed text proposals for a ministerial decision to be considered at MC13.
Ambassador Dwarka-Canabady acknowledged that more work is needed with regards to the existing moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions if members are to find a middle-ground. She said she would hold consultations in mid-January to deepen discussions on members’ proposals for a MC13 ministerial decision and organise another dedicated discussion on 25 January in order to find language that captures commonalities between the texts on the table. Ministers agreed at MC12 to maintain the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until MC13.
Graduation of least-developed countries
In his report assessing the recent progress made in negotiations on providing flexibilities to countries graduating from least developed country (LDC) status, the chair of the Committee on Trade and Development, Ambassador José R. Sanchez-Fung of the Dominican Republic, said that more time is needed for members to find convergence in the negotiations regarding Annex 2 of the LDC Group’s proposal on LDC graduation. He said MC13 could offer an opportunity to take further stock of the progress made, including the possibility of any decision to further support the LDCs on the path to graduation.
WTO members adopted a decision at a General Council meeting on 23 October encouraging members that remove countries from their duty-free and quota-free preference programmes upon graduation to provide a smooth and sustainable transition period for the withdrawal of these preferences after graduation.
LDC graduation refers to the point when an LDC meets certain United Nations development criteria and is no longer defined as an LDC. As the most vulnerable members of the international community, LDCs are accorded special treatment at the WTO, such as enhanced market access opportunities and flexibilities in adopting WTO rules.
Development assistance aspects of cotton
The Director-General gave a readout on her latest periodic report on the development assistance aspects of cotton. She said that in the past two years, very positive outcomes have been achieved in the initiatives on cotton, which are crucial for the Cotton-4 members (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali), Côte d’Ivoire and other African cotton-producing countries.
Source: wto.org (Collected by Pham Bang Tam)