DUBAI: Civil society supported the government's stance on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), a deal pushed by China, Chile and South Korea, as several rich nations build the narrative of portraying India as a country in talks in multiple areas stops WTO Ministerial meeting starting on Monday.
“Not only is there no mandate for these (investment facilitation) negotiations, there is also a negative mandate. Countries trying to enforce this at MC13 are violating basic WTO rules,” said Deborah James, moderator of the Our World is Not for Sale network, pointing to decisions from 2004 and 2016. Civil society groups accused China of inappropriate actions putting pressure on poorer countries, which they said would not be successful, and also questioned the WTO Secretariat's role in pushing for inclusion in the talks. Some have described it as “illegitimate” and “anti-development.”
Government officials told TOI that the last-minute attempt to add something to the agenda that was not even on the main agenda was unacceptable as countries tried to bring things into the WTO through the back door despite being opposed for years be.
“Today it’s about facilitating investments, tomorrow it will be about the environment or MSMEs. These are non-trade issues and do not belong to the WTO. “Also, you can’t negotiate things in small groups and try to legitimize them by bringing them into the main agenda,” said an Indian negotiator.
Although the US, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are not signatories to the IFD agreement, at least for now, they are not opposed to its inclusion as annexation, something India and South Africa want to block. The two countries have firmly spoken out against “plurilaterals” and remain steadfast. All WTO members have veto power, and even if one member disagrees, the issue is blocked.
As for domestic regulation of services, WTO members agreed to put it on the agenda after the countries that pushed the agreement decided to make it available to all members without forcing them to become one of the agree to obligations.
Officials said that in contrast to the picture painted by some of the developed nations, domestic regulation of services – which aims to provide transparency in the regulation of sectors such as banking, telecommunications and even the entry of lawyers and accountants – the nations will help, rather than just pushing the agenda of a handful of countries, as was the case with investments.
“Progress has been made there. In addition, the graduation of the least developed countries and the accession of two new members were positive items on the agenda at the Ministerial Conference. It's unfair to blame a few countries, especially when you have failed to implement your part of the promise. “Things like public holdings of stocks,” an Indian official said.
Separately, the G33 group of countries on Sunday expressed serious concerns about a lack of progress in agricultural trade negotiations and called on WTO members to work on a lasting solution to the problem of public grain stocks for food security.
The G33 group includes 47 developing and least developed countries.
“Not only is there no mandate for these (investment facilitation) negotiations, there is also a negative mandate. Countries trying to enforce this at MC13 are violating basic WTO rules,” said Deborah James, moderator of the Our World is Not for Sale network, pointing to decisions from 2004 and 2016. Civil society groups accused China of inappropriate actions putting pressure on poorer countries, which they said would not be successful, and also questioned the WTO Secretariat's role in pushing for inclusion in the talks. Some have described it as “illegitimate” and “anti-development.”
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Government officials told TOI that the last-minute attempt to add something to the agenda that was not even on the main agenda was unacceptable as countries tried to bring things into the WTO through the back door despite being opposed for years be.
“Today it’s about facilitating investments, tomorrow it will be about the environment or MSMEs. These are non-trade issues and do not belong to the WTO. “Also, you can’t negotiate things in small groups and try to legitimize them by bringing them into the main agenda,” said an Indian negotiator.
Although the US, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are not signatories to the IFD agreement, at least for now, they are not opposed to its inclusion as annexation, something India and South Africa want to block. The two countries have firmly spoken out against “plurilaterals” and remain steadfast. All WTO members have veto power, and even if one member disagrees, the issue is blocked.
As for domestic regulation of services, WTO members agreed to put it on the agenda after the countries that pushed the agreement decided to make it available to all members without forcing them to become one of the agree to obligations.
Expand
Officials said that in contrast to the picture painted by some of the developed nations, domestic regulation of services – which aims to provide transparency in the regulation of sectors such as banking, telecommunications and even the entry of lawyers and accountants – the nations will help, rather than just pushing the agenda of a handful of countries, as was the case with investments.
“Progress has been made there. In addition, the graduation of the least developed countries and the accession of two new members were positive items on the agenda at the Ministerial Conference. It's unfair to blame a few countries, especially when you have failed to implement your part of the promise. “Things like public holdings of stocks,” an Indian official said.
Separately, the G33 group of countries on Sunday expressed serious concerns about a lack of progress in agricultural trade negotiations and called on WTO members to work on a lasting solution to the problem of public grain stocks for food security.
The G33 group includes 47 developing and least developed countries.
