Bhabindra Sherchan
Kathmandu, March 19, 2024. The 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi concluded on Saturday with a high-level meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is expected to take a special decision on an agreement on agriculture and fisheries.
Representatives of the participating countries said that the conference, despite giving importance to discussions on e-commerce and agriculture and fisheries, was not productive. The outcome of the conference highlighted the sharp divisions among the organization’s 164 member countries amid geopolitical tensions and an economic slowdown that have put global trade at risk.
The WTO needed to show the positive side of the global trade crisis, but perhaps the conference has made the world community realize that it would be wrong to move on from the current situation. Speaking at the closing press conference, the Emirati chairman of the MC-13 gathering, Thani Al Zeyoudi, acknowledged the shortcomings and said that the discussions did not reach the desired conclusion.
“Despite our best efforts to reach an agreement that is of great importance to many of our members, we were unable to agree on some issues,” said Al Zeyoudi, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “The negotiations have taken place against an international backdrop of greater uncertainty than at any time I can remember,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization. “We have achieved some important things and not been able to achieve others.”
The WTO is the only international body that oversees trade rules between nations, requiring the full consent of all members to draft agreements. The MC13 was expected to repeat the historic ministerial success of 2022 in Geneva. It produced a deal on fisheries, and members agreed to re-establish a dispute settlement system by the end of the year. But the latest cabinet failed to deliver on that goal.
After the conference ended, International Chamber of Commerce Secretary-General John Denton said in a statement that the overall package had unexpected shortcomings and served as a “wake-up call.” Following an agreement to ban subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in 2022, the WTO was expected to conclude a second package focused on subsidies for fishing beyond capacity.
Negotiations in recent months at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva have produced a draft for a second fisheries agreement that would provide flexibility and benefits to developing countries. It was able to bring.
