Written By:- Kajal Chaudhary.
27 July 2022.
On June 17, member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) wrapped up the Ministerial Conference twelfth outlining (MC12) on relaxing patent regularities to achieve global vaccine equity, ensuring food security, according to subsidies to the fisheries sector and continuing moratorium relevant to eCommerce among others. Together they constitute what WTO’s Director General Ngozi Okonjo referred to as the ‘Geneva Package’. India saw some successes at the MC12 with respect to the above-mentioned sectors.
Firstly, what is the importance of a ministerial conference?
• The topmost decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years.
• It brings together all members of the WTO all of which are countries or customs unions.
• The Ministerial conference can take the decision on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements.
• In the WTO, there is a General Council composed of representatives of all the members, which oversees the operation of the agreements and ministerial decisions on a regular basis.
• It also acts as a Dispute Settlement Body and a Trade Policy Review Body
• The Director General(DG) appointed for a period of four years by the Ministerial Conference, heads the Secretariat of the WTO.
Outcomes of the WTO MC12
1. Declaration of Food Security
Background
• Global Food Crisis because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
• India’s export ban on wheat.
Impact
• Russia and Ukraine prairie are amongst the top wheat exporters in the world.
• The 5 biggest wheat exporters (Russia, United States of America, Australia, Canada, and Ukraine) provide about three-fifths (59.5%) of the overall value of the International shipments for the nourishing cereal food.
• The exports have been disrupted because of the war.
• India because of rising inflation put a ban on wheat exports.
Outcome of the Agreement
• The present agreement will ensure the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food to those in need, especially in humanitarian emergencies.
• Member countries would not impose export prohibitions or restrictions of foodstuffs purchased for humanitarian purposes of the WFP.
• It encouraged member countries with available surplus to release them on international markets in compliance with WTO regulations.
• Instituted a work programme to come up with the measures to help LDCs (least-developed countries) and NFIDCs (Net Food Importing Developing Countries) enhance their domestic food security and bolster agriculture production.
Unresolved Issues
• Could not reach agreements on issues such as permissible public stockholding threshold for domestic food security, domestic support to agriculture, cotton, and market access.
2. Agreement on Harmful Fisheries Subsidies
• Multilateral agreement contributing to the protection of the oceans was achieved.
• The agreement on Harmful fisheries subsidies is in line with the Un Sustainable development Goal 14.6 (UN SDG).
• It includes a strong prohibition of subsidies contributing to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing with unprecedented transparency provisions.
• Secondly, it includes an absolute prohibition of subsidies for fishing on the unregulated high seas.
• A dedicated trust fund to provide technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries to implement the agreement was also announced.
• The only exception for continuing subsidies for the overfished stock is when they are deemed essential to rebuild them to a biological sustainable level.
• There would be no limitation on subsidies granted or maintained by developing or least-developed countries for fishing within their exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
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