Geneva — The progress of major world trade negotiations has been hampered by India, forcing important international conferences into overtime.
The World Trade Organization on Wednesday gave another day to reach an agreement, but diplomats hold consensus on everything from harmful fishing subsidies to food security and COVID-19 vaccine patent exemptions in New Delhi. I’m pessimistic about whether to quit.
“To be honest, it’s not yet clear if there’s an arrangement,” said someone near the meeting Wednesday afternoon. [India].. “
The WTO Ministerial Meeting in Geneva is the first major decision-making meeting in five years and is currently scheduled to end by mid-Thursday afternoon. But that could change, said WTO spokesman Dan Purzin.
Many countries are furious with India’s deterrence tactics that could derail all transactions that could have been reachable at the conference.
A Geneva trade diplomat said at the conference that “India is dancing a very smart and strategic dance” and acted as a “noisy child of the WTO.” But “we must not let them stop their bullshit,” the diplomat added.
One of the biggest blows is the failure to reach an agreement to curb subsidies that contributed to the depletion of marine fish stocks. These negotiations have been going on for over 20 years and countries have begun to move towards a final agreement in recent months.
However, India wants developing countries to be given 25 years to phase out subsidies and is making other demands to cross the red line in other countries.
New Delhi primarily wants Member States to permanently exempt public food holding programs from WTO rules. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday that the WTO should resolve the public equity holding issue before tackling new areas.
India, along with Indonesia, is threatening to block the renewal of the 24-year-old moratorium, which prevents countries from imposing tariffs on digital goods and services, as well as routine cross-border business data transmission.
That would be a major setback for the WTO’s role in promoting free and open trade, but countries still need to individually decide whether to impose obligations.
The most promising area of the agreement is to allow developing countries to waive their intellectual property protection for the COVID-19 vaccine, allowing domestic manufacturers to produce generic versions of life-saving medicines. However, the negotiations seem to have turned worse.
Back to the drawing board
A person near the talks said of the vaccine talks on Tuesday night, “We thought we were pretty close until a few other delegations said,’Let’s go back to the square.'” Told. “So I’m still not sure if this can be achieved.”
The WTO may also approve a broader package to address some of the trade concerns that arose during the pandemic, such as export restrictions. However, India and other countries claim to include automatic triggers to deal with future pandemics. This is an unacceptable demand for member countries such as the EU, US, UK and Switzerland.
The limelight of Delhi prevents other countries from blaming the stagnation of negotiations. For example, China and the United States have major issues to be resolved regarding whether China should take advantage of the status of developing countries in patent waivers and fisheries negotiations.
Beijing allows “wrecking is done by Indians who need to be wrecking and comes to protect some very specific interests they have”. Someone close to the meeting said.
India’s harsh stance in Geneva casts doubt on US President Joe Biden’s signature trade initiative, participation in the proposed prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
Brussels may also be shaken by the idea that Goyal will begin bilateral trade negotiations with India on Friday, which is expected in the European capital.
“They are [India] Are you really going to pull down the whole building? I was wondering A person close to the meeting.
POLITICO contacted the Indian delegation for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
This article is part of POLITICO Pro
POLITICO A one-stop shop solution for policy professionals that combines the depth of journalism with the power of technology
Exclusive and destructive scoops and insights
Customized policy intelligence platform
High-level public relations network
..
