Few Concessions at WTO Summit
Protesters shout slogans about food security outside the lobby before a plenary session of the ninth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Nusa Dua, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali December 4, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Edgar Su)
Nusa Dua, Bali. As the World Trade Organization's Ninth Ministerial Meeting entered its second day, the veneer of unity on the need to find common ground began cracking on statements by major countries that they could not make any more concessions than they already had.
The star of Wednesday's two-part plenary session was, arguably, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, whose government is set to roll out a food security program that would put it at squarely odds with the WTO's regulatory framework.
Refusal from India to back down from its domestic plans would likely derail the Bali Package, which covers three clusters of issues, namely least-developed countries, trade facilitation, and agriculture.
Sharma delivered a statement that set out India's firm and unchanged stance on its policy. He said that any trade agreement to be produced at the meeting must by in sync with a shared objective of preventing the risk of famine by ensuring food security.
"For India, food security is non-negotiable. [The] need for public stockholding of food grains to ensure food security must be respected," Sharma told his colleagues.
India's refusal to allow the WTO to dictate matters of food security and government support for farming communities is supported by the Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI) and by international farmers' alliances such as La Via Campesina.
La Via Campesina, which boasts more than 200 million members in 70 countries, is part of a large and vocal international contingent that has arrived in Bali to protest the WTO talks.
India's minister said any compromise that could undermine India's food program "cannot be accepted," and that a temporary solution must remain in place until permanent protection from WTO challenges was ensured.
Michael Froman, the trade representative from the United States, one of the countries that stands accused of benefiting from distortions in international agricultural trade, urged compromise.
He told his counterparts that the United States had made its "fair share of compromises" and that no country could expect to get everything it wanted. "The United States has negotiated hard, but we've also been flexible," Froman said.
A Bali outcome is important, he said, as it will display to "a skeptical world that the WTO is a vital, vibrant institution capable of producing important results for trade and development worthy of our future confidence, attention and resources."
Gao Hucheng, China's commerce minister, said the WTO needed to change, noting the surge of regional trade arrangements and the organization's low decision-making efficiency.
The minister said China pledged to play a more active and positive role.
"As it actively opens up its market, China is projected to import $10 trillion worth of goods," Gao said.
Brazil's foreign minister, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, said that the Bali Package negotiation had "run its course and should not be repeated."
"We should now revert to a more ambitious goal: leave the piecemeal approach behind and restore the integrity of our negotiating agenda. In other words, we must go for a full harvest," the minister said.
For Brazil that meant "the removal of the most distorting trade measures, particularly in agriculture, that hamper full integration of developing countries in world trade," Machado said.
But beyond these more hard-edged remarks, Wednesday's plenary session was essentially a diplomatic show for which most ministers relied on their speechwriters to craft their messages.
Ministers expressed their gratitude to the Indonesian government for a warm welcome and being a generous host for the meeting.
Real debate was absent on the sticking points in ongoing talks on the Bali Package, which covers three clusters of issues, namely least-developed countries, trade facilitation, and agriculture.
Speakers put on a brave face, saying that a deal was close, and warning that failure to achieve an agreement would have a detrimental impact on confidence in the controversial multilateral platform.
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