11th World Trade Organization conference

• The eleventh ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended in a stalemate, without any ministerial declaration as the US reneged on its commitment to give a permanent solution to food stockpiling issues of developing countries.
• The US' refusal to reaffirm multilateralism and the Doha development mandate in the outcome led to a breakdown in talks at the 164-nation WTO as several countries, including India, opposed the US position.

India and WTO:

• The Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the WTO was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The outcome of the conference was a positive one for India as the country was able to secure the interests of its farmers as well food security for the poor.
• India was successful stopping any of the new issues like investment facilitation and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from entering the ambit of the WTO.
• India became the second largest proponent of issues after the EU as it submitted proposals on six issues — public stock-holding, special safeguards mechanism, domestic regulation, domestic support, trade facilitation in services, and eCommerce.
• Although India was unable to push its agenda on food security forward.
• In fisheries, India was able to push the commitment to 2019, to prohibit certain forms of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
• In ecommerce, India managed to convince other countries to continue with the old work programme that links a two-year continuation of the moratorium on ecommerce with the continuation of one on TRIPS and non-violation complaints.

By: Vishal