The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed on the first change to global trading rules in years on Friday as well as a deal to boost the supply of Covid-19 vaccines in a series of pledges that were heavy on compromise.
The deals were forged in the early hours of the sixth day of a conference of more than 100 trade ministers that was seen as a test of the ability of nations to strike multilateral trade deals.
The WTO sought to respond to a food supply and price hike crisis exacerbated by export disruptions from major cereal producers Ukraine and Russia.
WTO members agreed in a declaration that they would take concrete steps to facilitate trade of food and agriculture, including cereals, fertilisers and other agricultural inputs, and reaffirmed the importance of limiting the restrictions on exports.
WTO members also agreed to a binding decision not to curb exports to the World Food Programme (WFP), which seeks to fight hunger in places hit by conflicts, disasters and climate change.
Members would still be free to adopt measures to ensure their own food security.
This is a big relief for India as the trade body did not seek to bar countries from slapping export restrictions in the interest of protecting their food security.
India has come under pressure for banning wheat exports — and has used food security as the fig leaf to justify its action.
WTO members have extended a moratorium on placing customs duties on electronic transmissions, from streaming services to financial transactions and corporate data flows, worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
The moratorium has been in place since 1998. South Africa and India had initially opposed an extension, saying they should not be missing out on customs revenues.
The extension runs to the next ministerial conference, which would normally be held by the end of 2023, but in any case will expire on March 31, 2024.
Fish subsidies
The deal to ban subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing or fishing of an over-fished stock has the potential to reverse collapsing fish stocks. Though pared back significantly, it still drew approval.
Director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the delegates: “The package of agreements you have reached will make a difference to the lives of people around the world. The outcomes demonstrate that the WTO is in fact capable of responding to emergencies of our time.”
The package, which the WTO chief called “unprecedented”, included the two highest profile deals under consideration — on fisheries and on a partial waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights for Covid-19 vaccines.
