WTO lurches to another crisis
Deadlocked talks reflect its inability to work through key issues of IP, food, and fishing
The 12th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that began in Geneva earlier this week was supposed to be a chance for the 168-nation body to dust off the impression of obsolescence in a world increasingly dominated by like-minded countries forging trade deals, shaped by the policy dynamics of great powers. Instead, it appears that the protracted negotiations are careening towards a deadlock. The disagreement between a bloc of developing countries and the advanced economies is largely centred on three axes: A possible pact for intellectual property rights waiver on Covid-19 vaccines and treatment, the disagreement over public stockholding of food (crucial for India’s food security schemes, some of the largest in the world) and paring down of government fishing subsidies.
The stalled negotiations on a demand by countries such as India, South Africa, and Indonesia for a temporary waiver of certain provisions of the Traderelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to provide universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, treatment and diagnostics has caused the sharpest disappointment. After opposition by some rich countries, a watered down version of the proposal is likely to exempt only a class of intellectual rights for vaccines (while firewalling medicines and diagnostics). This newspaper had pointed out last year that even after a full TRIPS waiver, countries will need access to technical know-how, raw materials, and infrastructure to ensure quality. With a diminished agreement, that job will almost certainly get harder. On food security and fisheries, India’s position has been clear despite lobbying from developed economies. In a world where the fragility of pacts, supply chains and cross-border trade has been underlined by the pandemic and the Russia-ukraine war, the country is correct in asserting its right to food security (and a demand that its subsidy regimes cannot be challenged as illegal at WTO) and the need to balance the need for sustainability with the livelihood of marginal fisherfolk (the bulk of fishing in India is subsistence-based and done by rural men and women, and is not comparable to developed countries with industrialised fishing facilities).
Ultimately, the deadlock at WTO reflects the uncertainties of a world in churn and the inability of the body to develop a model for countries to work through these differences. The TRIPS waiver debate shows that the pandemic didn’t bring countries as close on issues of critical health care as previously thought, and the fish and food disagreement underlines the failure to create models that deliver long-term solutions to extant differences. If the meeting ends without a result, instead of blaming developing countries, WTO would do well to look inwards for reform and revival.