After the 11th World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference failed to agree on anything, Pakistan joined a group of 30 members called ‘Friends of the Multilateral System’, which aims to protect the more than two decades old trade body and post-war trading system.

Therefore, there was no declaration and only a chairs summary was issued after the conference. The US did not agree to any draft declaration, as it wants no reiteration of commitment to a multilateral system.

The United States, once the guarantor of a multilateral trading system, is now leading a group of countries against the WTO. The 164 members of WTO gathered in Buenos Aires last week to break a deadlock over stalled negotiations under the so-called Doha Development Agenda.

At the beginning of the ministerial, there were only 30 members, while the rest joined to the end. Friends of the system and like-minded 46 developing and developed members have come up with a detailed joint declaration expressing concern over the challenges faced by the WTO and stating that opposing countries should support the multilateral trading system.

It was observed that no progress has been made in negotiations since the WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi in 2015. The group demanded that all issues need to be renegotiated, to cater to the needs of the developing countries. The group also expressed concern on non-appointments to Appellate body which are blocked by US.

One of the voices raised was of Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik who said two concepts were enshrined in the founding document of WTO — multilateralism and development which define the future of global trade and the WTO. Pakistan remains committed to these ideals.

“In our view, any decisions that isolate some members, or do not cater for the concerns and needs of developing countries, will be damaging and retrogressive,” the minister said.

Agriculture remains the lifeline for most economies across the globe. Food security and sustainability are one of the greatest challenges for the 21st century. “We must find ways to ensure that we work towards a common future that benefits our next generations,” the minister said.

At the ministerial, one of the substantial issues was the public stock holding (PSH) for food security purposes which could not be agreed upon.

Pakistan was supporting a solution with safeguards against market distortions in international market and third country impact. However, India and South Africa wanted a watered-down Bali decision. Many countries wanted PSH to cover new programmes. The US point blank refused anything on public stock holding on food security.

The only outcome of the ministerial was an agreement on a future work programme on fishery subsidies. Similarly, on e-commerce merely a rollover of the moratorium and the present work programme was agreed upon.

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to WTO and Ambassador Dr Tauqeer Shah told this scribe that the country participated actively and positively on all issues ensuring its core interest which was reflected and registered in all those meetings.

He said Pakistan hosted a meeting of Friends of E-commerce to develop a like minded group. In this meeting, he said 16 counties participated including Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Kenya, China, Moldova, Montenegro and Russia.

On emerging issues, like investment facilitation and trade, no agreement was reached at the ministerial. However, China hosted a ministerial meeting about 40 countries including Pakistan participated and there was a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting.

Many trade analysts believe the WTO is at a crossroads and that inward looking policies will remain a major threat to the multilateral trading system

A new initiative called the ‘Programme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ was attempted by a group of 80 countries including Pakistan. The issue was highly deliberated but again no agreement was reached. At the end, a joint statement was issued highlighting the importance of the sector and how to integrate it with the multilateral trading system.

A joint declaration was issued by around 100 counties at the sidelines on economic empowerment of women through trade, facilitated by the International Trade Centre. Pakistan was part of the core teams which worked on the empowerment of women in the global trading system.

Ambassador Tauqeer said the ministerial opportunity was used by Pakistan for a large number of bilateral meetings with Qatar, China, Turkey, Costa Rica, Japan, Tanzania, Russia, Mauritius and the Mercosur countries: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

These discussions were aimed at not only strengthening the multilateral trading system, but also to pursue greater market access on a bilateral basis.

Pakistan is also one of the active members of the Cairns group, propagating removal of all export subsidies, and G-33 developing countries. Dr Tauqeer said the country took part in deliberations of the two forums to present its position at the sidelines of WTO ministerial.

Pakistan also participated in a IPU meeting organised by Argentina parliament parallel to the WTO ministerial. MNA Siraj Khan Chairman of the NA committee on commerce represented Pakistan.

Many trade analysts believe the World Trade Organisation is at a crossroads and that inward looking policies will remain a major threat to the multilateral trading system.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 25th, 2017