WTO Talks End Sans Decision On Key Issues; Duty Moratorium On E-Commerce Trade Extended Again

ABU DHABI: The talks at the WTO's ministerial conference ended with no decision on key issues such as finding a permanent solution to public food stockpile and on curbing fisheries subsidies, but the members agreed to further extend the moratorium on imposing import duties on e-commerce trade for two more years.

The 13th ministerial conference (MC13) also managed to get at least five more outcomes such as new disciplines on domestic regulation for services, formal joining of Comoros and Timor-Leste as members of the WTO, and least developing countries continuing to get the benefits of LDC even three years after graduation.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said it is a "good outcome and we are completely satisfied".

He said that a lot of issues continue to make progress in terms of discussions.

"Progress was made on several contentious issues which have not been closed for many years but forward movement is always a sign of possible closure going forward," he told reporters here.

India successfully pushed the food security issue and the country did not yield any ground on protecting the interest of poor farmers and fishermen as well as on other issues.

Despite the four days of hectic parleys getting extended for a day, the 166-member World Trade Organisation (WTO) was not able to reach a common ground for resolving the food security issue, a demand raised prominently by India as it was crucial for the livelihood of 800 million people across the globe, and curbing subsidies that leads to overfishing and over capacity.

The Cairns group, comprising countries like Australia and Brazil, has claimed that public stockholding is market-distorting and that there should be no export restrictions. Food-importing countries like Japan and Singapore are pushing for predictability in farm policies.