‘Tense and difficult’ WTO talks head into overtime

Abu Dhabi — Negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi went into overtime on Thursday, with the trade body announcing the closing session had been delayed, and no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations.

The biennial conference is seeking deals on ending fishing subsidies and extending a moratorium on digital trade tariffs — a move that India and SA oppose.

The scheduled announcement of a final agreement after four days of intergovernmental talks was pushed back four hours until midnight in the Gulf State.

Some delegates expressed scepticism that a deal would be reached by then, saying that serious differences remained on a range of issues meant to address global trade.

“Tense. Difficult,” said one delegate on condition of anonymity.

India’s trade minister said he was “sad” some countries were still obstructing significant outcomes. He gave little sign New Delhi would drop its opposition to extending a waiver on digital tariffs.

“Of course we feel sad that some countries are still obstructing significant outcomes that could have helped less developed countries and developing countries gain confidence in the working of WTO,” Piyush Goyal said on the final day of the talks.

Still, he voiced optimism that “significant outcomes” could be achieved in the negotiations.

Pacific islands

A grouping of Pacific islands, including Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, were also opposing a draft deal on changes to fisheries subsidies, with Fiji’s deputy prime minister saying it did not go far enough.

“We would like the large subsidising countries to put a cap on the current level of subsidies,” Manoa Seru Kamikamica said.

Goyal did not name the countries that he said were blocking results at the talks. But he said his top priority was fixing the WTO’s dispute system, adding he had raised the lack of progress with US trade representative Katherine Tai in a meeting on Wednesday.

“The first and highest priority is to get the appellate body of the dispute resolution mechanism in place because without that all the decisions we are taking cannot be adjudicated upon,” he said.

The WTO’s top appeals court has been hamstrung for four years due to US opposition to judge appointments and remains out of service. Tai already ruled out an agreement on WTO dispute settlement appeals reform this week, but said negotiations were showing progress.

Asked whether India would drop its opposition to a waiver on tariffs on digital goods such as film downloads, he said: “Let us see what everybody else is budging on”.

Reuters