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The failure of the two major players in global trade negotiations to bridge their differences has put paid to the adoption of the protocol of amendment for implementation of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the time being.
The failure of the two major players in global trade negotiations to bridge their differences has put paid to the adoption of the protocol of amendment for implementation of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the time being.
India and the United States failed Thursday at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reach agreement on construction of a legally binding decision on a "permanent peace clause" that would further strengthen what was decided for public distribution programmes for food security in developing countries at the ninth ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last year.
New Delhi made its choice clear to Azevedo: either members [of the WTO] agree to a permanent solution for food security or postpone adoption of the TFA protocol until there are credible outcomes on all issues, by the end of the year.
The Bali decision on food security was one of the nine non-binding best endeavour outcomes agreed by trade ministers on agriculture and development.
For industrialised and leading economic tigers in the developing world, the TFA - which would harmonise customs procedures in the developing world on a par with the industrialised countries - is a major mechanism for market access into the developing and poorest countries.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, who had put all his energies over the last seven months into ensuring the timely adoption of the TFA protocol by July 31 as set out in the Bali ministerial declaration, was clearly upset with the failure to adopt the protocol.
"The fact we do not have a conclusion means that we are entering a new phase in our work - a phase which strikes me as being full of uncertainties," Azevedo told the delegates at the concluding session of the General Council, which is the highest WTO decision-taking body between ministerial meetings.
The Bail ministerial declaration was adopted at the WTO's ninth ministerial meeting in December last year. It resulted in a binding multilateral agreement on trade facilitation along with non-binding outcomes on nine other decisions raised by developing and poorest countries, including an interim solution on public distribution programmes for food security.
The developing and poorest countries remained unhappy with the Bali package even though their trade ministers endorsed the deal. The countries of the South resented what they saw as the "foster parent treatment" accorded to their concerns in agriculture and development.
While work on clearing the way for the speedy implementation of the TFA has preceded at brisk pace at the WTO over the last seven months, other issues were somewhat neglected. Several African and South American countries, as well as India, remained unhappy with the lack of progress in issues concerning agriculture and development, particularly in public distribution programmes for food security.
Last week, India fired the first salvo at the WTO by declaring that unless there are "credible" outcomes in the development dossier of the Bali package, including a permanent solution for food security, it would not join the consensus to adopt the TFA. Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba shared India's concerns.
Despite concerted political lobbying by leading U.S. administration officials and envoys from Western countries in New Delhi to change its stand, the Indian government informed the WTO director-general Wednesday that it wanted a substantive outcome on food security, without which it would oppose the TFA protocol.
Without bringing India and the United States into a face-to-face dialogue at the WTO, Azevedo held talks with the representatives from the world's two largest democracies in a one-on-one format.
According to sources familiar with the WTO's closed-door consultations, Azevedo informed India that its demand for a substantive outcome on food security would not be acceptable to members because they would not approve "re-writing" the Bali ministerial declaration.
New Delhi made its choice clear to Azevedo: either members agree to a permanent solution for food security or postpone adoption of the TFA protocol until there are credible outcomes on all issues, by the end of the year.
"India's position remains the same," New Delhi trade minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after a meeting with the U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker Thursday.
Given the importance of TFA for U.S. business interests, Washington yielded some ground by agreeing to a compromise, but the two sides were stuck on legal aspects, particularly on how this should be adopted at the General Council.
The result Thursday was that the differences between the two led to an adjournment of the General Council without the TFA protocol.
"We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge that gap," the WTO director-general told members. "We tried everything we could ... but it has not proved possible," Azevedo said.
"We are absolutely sad and disappointed that a very small handful of countries were unwilling to keep their commitments from the December conference in Bali and we agree with the director-general that the failure has put this institution on very uncertain ground," U.S. deputy trade representative Ambassador Michael Punke told reporters.
Brazil's trade envoy Marcos Galvao suggested that it would be possible to reinvigorate the talks despite the failure Thursday. "When we come back in September, we can come forward with the Bali package and the whole work programme," Galvao told IPS.
In New Delhi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "our feeling is obviously that the agreement that was reached in Bali is an agreement that importantly can provide for food security for India."
"We do not dismiss the concerns India has about large numbers of poor people who require some sort of food assurance and subsistence level, but we believe there's a way to provide for that that keeps faith with the WTO Bali agreement," Kerry maintained.
Credible and permanent rules for food security are vital for developing countries to continue with their public distribution programmes to address livelihood security.
"The programme enables governments in the developing countries to put more money in the hands of the poor farmers by buying their crops at stable and higher price, and use those government purchases to feed the hungry - many of those same farm families - with free or subsidised food distributions," said Timothy A. Wise, an academic with the Global Development and Environment Institute at the U.S. Tufts University.
Several developing and poorest countries - Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Botswana, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Jordan, India, and Saudi Arabia - are currently implementing food security programmes for different food articles.
The Bali package involves nine issues in addition to the TFA and they need to be addressed "on an equal footing," Nelson Ndirangu, Kenya's senior trade official told IPS. "I'm sympathetic to India's stand and I agree that all issues, including a permanent solution for food security, must be addressed along with the TFA," said Ndirangu.
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The failure of the two major players in global trade negotiations to bridge their differences has put paid to the adoption of the protocol of amendment for implementation of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the time being.
India and the United States failed Thursday at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reach agreement on construction of a legally binding decision on a "permanent peace clause" that would further strengthen what was decided for public distribution programmes for food security in developing countries at the ninth ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last year.
New Delhi made its choice clear to Azevedo: either members [of the WTO] agree to a permanent solution for food security or postpone adoption of the TFA protocol until there are credible outcomes on all issues, by the end of the year.
The Bali decision on food security was one of the nine non-binding best endeavour outcomes agreed by trade ministers on agriculture and development.
For industrialised and leading economic tigers in the developing world, the TFA - which would harmonise customs procedures in the developing world on a par with the industrialised countries - is a major mechanism for market access into the developing and poorest countries.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, who had put all his energies over the last seven months into ensuring the timely adoption of the TFA protocol by July 31 as set out in the Bali ministerial declaration, was clearly upset with the failure to adopt the protocol.
"The fact we do not have a conclusion means that we are entering a new phase in our work - a phase which strikes me as being full of uncertainties," Azevedo told the delegates at the concluding session of the General Council, which is the highest WTO decision-taking body between ministerial meetings.
The Bail ministerial declaration was adopted at the WTO's ninth ministerial meeting in December last year. It resulted in a binding multilateral agreement on trade facilitation along with non-binding outcomes on nine other decisions raised by developing and poorest countries, including an interim solution on public distribution programmes for food security.
The developing and poorest countries remained unhappy with the Bali package even though their trade ministers endorsed the deal. The countries of the South resented what they saw as the "foster parent treatment" accorded to their concerns in agriculture and development.
While work on clearing the way for the speedy implementation of the TFA has preceded at brisk pace at the WTO over the last seven months, other issues were somewhat neglected. Several African and South American countries, as well as India, remained unhappy with the lack of progress in issues concerning agriculture and development, particularly in public distribution programmes for food security.
Last week, India fired the first salvo at the WTO by declaring that unless there are "credible" outcomes in the development dossier of the Bali package, including a permanent solution for food security, it would not join the consensus to adopt the TFA. Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba shared India's concerns.
Despite concerted political lobbying by leading U.S. administration officials and envoys from Western countries in New Delhi to change its stand, the Indian government informed the WTO director-general Wednesday that it wanted a substantive outcome on food security, without which it would oppose the TFA protocol.
Without bringing India and the United States into a face-to-face dialogue at the WTO, Azevedo held talks with the representatives from the world's two largest democracies in a one-on-one format.
According to sources familiar with the WTO's closed-door consultations, Azevedo informed India that its demand for a substantive outcome on food security would not be acceptable to members because they would not approve "re-writing" the Bali ministerial declaration.
New Delhi made its choice clear to Azevedo: either members agree to a permanent solution for food security or postpone adoption of the TFA protocol until there are credible outcomes on all issues, by the end of the year.
"India's position remains the same," New Delhi trade minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after a meeting with the U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker Thursday.
Given the importance of TFA for U.S. business interests, Washington yielded some ground by agreeing to a compromise, but the two sides were stuck on legal aspects, particularly on how this should be adopted at the General Council.
The result Thursday was that the differences between the two led to an adjournment of the General Council without the TFA protocol.
"We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge that gap," the WTO director-general told members. "We tried everything we could ... but it has not proved possible," Azevedo said.
"We are absolutely sad and disappointed that a very small handful of countries were unwilling to keep their commitments from the December conference in Bali and we agree with the director-general that the failure has put this institution on very uncertain ground," U.S. deputy trade representative Ambassador Michael Punke told reporters.
Brazil's trade envoy Marcos Galvao suggested that it would be possible to reinvigorate the talks despite the failure Thursday. "When we come back in September, we can come forward with the Bali package and the whole work programme," Galvao told IPS.
In New Delhi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "our feeling is obviously that the agreement that was reached in Bali is an agreement that importantly can provide for food security for India."
"We do not dismiss the concerns India has about large numbers of poor people who require some sort of food assurance and subsistence level, but we believe there's a way to provide for that that keeps faith with the WTO Bali agreement," Kerry maintained.
Credible and permanent rules for food security are vital for developing countries to continue with their public distribution programmes to address livelihood security.
"The programme enables governments in the developing countries to put more money in the hands of the poor farmers by buying their crops at stable and higher price, and use those government purchases to feed the hungry - many of those same farm families - with free or subsidised food distributions," said Timothy A. Wise, an academic with the Global Development and Environment Institute at the U.S. Tufts University.
Several developing and poorest countries - Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Botswana, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Jordan, India, and Saudi Arabia - are currently implementing food security programmes for different food articles.
The Bali package involves nine issues in addition to the TFA and they need to be addressed "on an equal footing," Nelson Ndirangu, Kenya's senior trade official told IPS. "I'm sympathetic to India's stand and I agree that all issues, including a permanent solution for food security, must be addressed along with the TFA," said Ndirangu.
The failure of the two major players in global trade negotiations to bridge their differences has put paid to the adoption of the protocol of amendment for implementation of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the time being.
India and the United States failed Thursday at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reach agreement on construction of a legally binding decision on a "permanent peace clause" that would further strengthen what was decided for public distribution programmes for food security in developing countries at the ninth ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last year.
New Delhi made its choice clear to Azevedo: either members [of the WTO] agree to a permanent solution for food security or postpone adoption of the TFA protocol until there are credible outcomes on all issues, by the end of the year.
The Bali decision on food security was one of the nine non-binding best endeavour outcomes agreed by trade ministers on agriculture and development.
For industrialised and leading economic tigers in the developing world, the TFA - which would harmonise customs procedures in the developing world on a par with the industrialised countries - is a major mechanism for market access into the developing and poorest countries.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, who had put all his energies over the last seven months into ensuring the timely adoption of the TFA protocol by July 31 as set out in the Bali ministerial declaration, was clearly upset with the failure to adopt the protocol.
"The fact we do not have a conclusion means that we are entering a new phase in our work - a phase which strikes me as being full of uncertainties," Azevedo told the delegates at the concluding session of the General Council, which is the highest WTO decision-taking body between ministerial meetings.
The Bail ministerial declaration was adopted at the WTO's ninth ministerial meeting in December last year. It resulted in a binding multilateral agreement on trade facilitation along with non-binding outcomes on nine other decisions raised by developing and poorest countries, including an interim solution on public distribution programmes for food security.
The developing and poorest countries remained unhappy with the Bali package even though their trade ministers endorsed the deal. The countries of the South resented what they saw as the "foster parent treatment" accorded to their concerns in agriculture and development.
While work on clearing the way for the speedy implementation of the TFA has preceded at brisk pace at the WTO over the last seven months, other issues were somewhat neglected. Several African and South American countries, as well as India, remained unhappy with the lack of progress in issues concerning agriculture and development, particularly in public distribution programmes for food security.
Last week, India fired the first salvo at the WTO by declaring that unless there are "credible" outcomes in the development dossier of the Bali package, including a permanent solution for food security, it would not join the consensus to adopt the TFA. Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba shared India's concerns.
Despite concerted political lobbying by leading U.S. administration officials and envoys from Western countries in New Delhi to change its stand, the Indian government informed the WTO director-general Wednesday that it wanted a substantive outcome on food security, without which it would oppose the TFA protocol.
Without bringing India and the United States into a face-to-face dialogue at the WTO, Azevedo held talks with the representatives from the world's two largest democracies in a one-on-one format.
According to sources familiar with the WTO's closed-door consultations, Azevedo informed India that its demand for a substantive outcome on food security would not be acceptable to members because they would not approve "re-writing" the Bali ministerial declaration.
New Delhi made its choice clear to Azevedo: either members agree to a permanent solution for food security or postpone adoption of the TFA protocol until there are credible outcomes on all issues, by the end of the year.
"India's position remains the same," New Delhi trade minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after a meeting with the U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker Thursday.
Given the importance of TFA for U.S. business interests, Washington yielded some ground by agreeing to a compromise, but the two sides were stuck on legal aspects, particularly on how this should be adopted at the General Council.
The result Thursday was that the differences between the two led to an adjournment of the General Council without the TFA protocol.
"We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge that gap," the WTO director-general told members. "We tried everything we could ... but it has not proved possible," Azevedo said.
"We are absolutely sad and disappointed that a very small handful of countries were unwilling to keep their commitments from the December conference in Bali and we agree with the director-general that the failure has put this institution on very uncertain ground," U.S. deputy trade representative Ambassador Michael Punke told reporters.
Brazil's trade envoy Marcos Galvao suggested that it would be possible to reinvigorate the talks despite the failure Thursday. "When we come back in September, we can come forward with the Bali package and the whole work programme," Galvao told IPS.
In New Delhi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "our feeling is obviously that the agreement that was reached in Bali is an agreement that importantly can provide for food security for India."
"We do not dismiss the concerns India has about large numbers of poor people who require some sort of food assurance and subsistence level, but we believe there's a way to provide for that that keeps faith with the WTO Bali agreement," Kerry maintained.
Credible and permanent rules for food security are vital for developing countries to continue with their public distribution programmes to address livelihood security.
"The programme enables governments in the developing countries to put more money in the hands of the poor farmers by buying their crops at stable and higher price, and use those government purchases to feed the hungry - many of those same farm families - with free or subsidised food distributions," said Timothy A. Wise, an academic with the Global Development and Environment Institute at the U.S. Tufts University.
Several developing and poorest countries - Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Botswana, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Jordan, India, and Saudi Arabia - are currently implementing food security programmes for different food articles.
The Bali package involves nine issues in addition to the TFA and they need to be addressed "on an equal footing," Nelson Ndirangu, Kenya's senior trade official told IPS. "I'm sympathetic to India's stand and I agree that all issues, including a permanent solution for food security, must be addressed along with the TFA," said Ndirangu.