Developing nations call for strengthening ‘special and differential’ provisions at WTO

Seventeen developing and least developed countries, representing about 100 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), have called for strengthening of the special & differential treatment (S&DT) mechanism that entitles them to concessions and flexibilities and strengthening of the multilateral trading system.

“S&DT provisions are the rights of developing members that must be preserved and strengthened in both current and future WTO agreements, with priority attention to outstanding LDC issues,” said the joint declaration agreed to by 17 countries that participated in the informal ministerial meeting of developing countries here.

The signatories include Egypt, Barbados, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Benin, Chad, India, Indonesia, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Oman. Among countries that participated in the meeting but did not sign the declaration as they could not get the required consent from their governments were Argentina and Brazil.

Interestingly, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, in his inaugural address on Monday evening, said the S&DT mechanism must be innovative in order to address the impasse and cautioned that if left unaddressed it may go either way.

“The ideal way is to have a benchmark because the differentiation is already happening and is essential for small developing countries,” he said.

Countries such as India, China and South Africa, however, are strongly resisting attempts made by some rich WTO members, including the US and the EU, to re-define S&DT and deprive larger developing countries from the benefit.

“India’s position on S&DT is very clear. It is an essential part of the WTO mechanism. India does not believe in further classification of countries,” said JS Deepak, India’s Permanent Representative to the WTO.

While the joint declaration does not talk about the on-going plurilateral negotiations on e-commerce at the WTO between 75 member countries, it mentions the need to preserve the multilateral process. 

“Multilateral avenues, based on consensus, remain the most effective means to achieve inclusive development-oriented outcomes….. We note that in the post-MC 11 (Eleventh Ministerial Conference) phase, many members have evinced interest in pursuing outcomes in some areas through joint initiatives approach. The outcomes of these initiatives should be conducive to strengthening the multilateral trading system and be consistent with WTO rules,” the statement said.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said that while joint initiatives are viewed differently by different members, none of the poorer countries want undermining of developing country concerns.

“Even as far as e-commerce is concerned, the digital divide, the fact that e-commerce space is dominated by multinationals of developed countries and their practices such as pricing policy are being questioned in the developed world, are serious concerns,” Wadhawan said. 

Appellate Body vacancies

 The countries also urged all WTO members to engage constructively to address the challenge without any delay in filling the vacancies in the Appellate Body, while continuing discussions on other issues relating to the functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism. 

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