PHM-Exch> PRESS CONFERENCE on 14 June: WTO at 27: End of the Road

[Jyotsna Singh]

*From: *Focus on the Global South <info at focus-india.org.in>
*Subject: **PRESS CONFERENCE WTO at 27: End of the Road [14 June 2022] & NEW
WTO PUBLICATIONS*
*Date: *11 June AD 2022 11:32:12 GMT+5:30
*To: *<s.guttal at focusweb.org>
*Reply-To: *Focus on the Global South <info at focus-india.org.in>

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*WTO PRESS CONFERENCE & NEW WTO PUBLICATIONS*
Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The beleaguered World Trade Organisation (WTO) will host its
12th Ministerial Conference (MC) from 12-15 June 2022 in the looming shadow
of the pandemic and the Ukraine war. While the pandemic and national
lockdowns led to a near collapse of global trade and contraction of
economies, the WTO itself was in comatose much before COVID-19. The
previous US administration under President Trump abandoned the WTO and
crippled its dispute settlement mechanism. Long pending negotiations on
critical issues such as agriculture, services, e-commerce and industrial
tariffs were stuck. Developing countries continued to be on the back foot
as legitimate demands, on development and special and differential
treatment , were stonewalled by the global north. The WTO trade bicycle has
been immobile since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

Will the 2020 pandemic be the final nail on the WTO coffin? More than 100
countries and thousands of civil society groups have made a concrete demand
for a waiver of TRIPS rules that are leading to a shortage and high price
of COVID vaccines and other medical tools in the developing world. For
nearly two years the WTO led by an intransigent block of rich countries has
shamefully blocked progress on this. We don’t expect the Geneva MC to do
much on this front. Instead, there is a concerted attempt to adopt a flawed
fisheries agreement and push for WTO reform that will effectively silence
the voice of developing countries. Public stockholding for food security
purposes, a lifeline for the poor especially during COVID, is sought to be
disciplined by neoliberal trade rules.

Please find below the announcement for a Press Conference we are organizing
on *June 14, 2022*.

We are also sharing recent articles and publications on key issues
surrounding the various trade agreements linked to the WTO: The Global
South in the WTO: Time to Move from the Defensive to the Offensive
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=d8e2bcda0d&e=7754ff55e6>
 by *Walden Bello*, and urgent letter
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=2a3e02d204&e=7754ff55e6>
 to the Government of India from India’s *National Fishworkers Forum*(NFF)
stating its principled opposition to the proposed WTO agreement to
eliminate fisheries subsidies which is expected to be adopted during the
#MC12. Please also see below for more details on the publications.
*WTO at 27: End of the Road*
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=014d91d64a&e=7754ff55e6>
Tuesday, 14 June 2022
11:00 Geneva | 14:30 New Delhi | 16:00 Bangkok-Phnom Penh | 17:00 Manila
Register here
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=7151fa2c08&e=7754ff55e6>
.

In this press conference, well known trade experts and representatives from
social movements will take stock of the WTOs record and articulate the way
forward for a genuine democratic multilateralism that puts economic, social
and environmental justice at the forefront.
 *Speakers*

   - *Walden Bello *– Focus on the Global South
   - *Kate Lappin* – Public Services International
   - *Farooq Tariq *– Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee/ La Via Campesina
   - *Sagari Ramdas *– Kudali Learning Centre and Food Sovereignty Alliance
   - *Pablo Rosales *– PANGISDA-Pilipinas
   - *Dr. Lauren Paremoer* – People’s Health Movement

To join the press conference, please register through the zoom link
provided here
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=4a724aa51d&e=7754ff55e6>
or
click on the registration buttons. The press conference will also be
broadcasted live through Focus on the Global South Facebook account here
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=310a7cb807&e=7754ff55e6>
.
Register
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=9be00719b4&e=7754ff55e6>
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=598376f080&e=7754ff55e6>
The Global South in the WTO: Time to Move from the Defensive to the
Offensive
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=623b6dfb34&e=7754ff55e6>
By Walden Bello*

The World Trade Organization will be holding its 12th Ministerial Meeting
in Geneva from June 12 to 15.  Yet little if anything is expected from the
meeting except the usual exchanges of conflicting views between
representatives of the global North and those of the global South.  There
might be something like a “Ministerial Declaration” that tries to paper
over differences with some conciliatory language, but anything resembling a
consensus on any key issue is unlikely.  Consensus is the prime
decision-making method in the WTO, and it’s been a long, long time since
there was consensus achieved on anything related to global trade rules.

The WTO is in a comatose state, and a key reason for this has been the
angry reaction of the governments of the global North to the ability of
governments of the global South and their civil society allies to fend off
demands for more concessions from the US and other developed countries that
had originally intended the organization to be the prime instrument of
prying open the economies of the South and integrating them more fully to a
global economy dominated by northern transnational corporations.

The WTO was a key agency of corporate-driven globalization.  Globalization
has, however, been shown to be a fragile order fraught with many
deep-seated structural weaknesses, such as collapsing global supply chains,
that have been exposed by the “perfect storm” of Covid 19, the war in
Ukraine, inexorably rising oil prices, global warming, and other
contingencies.  As deglobalization gathers momentum, developing countries
must move from a purely defensive to an offensive strategy at the WTO,
taking advantage of the crisis of the organization, especially its moribund
dispute settlement system, to take back the concessions it made to the
global North during the Uruguay Round.  Regaining the policy space
abolished by these concessions will be essential to developing countries if
they are to adjust effectively to the emerging new global order.
Read the Article
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=ebde50d768&e=7754ff55e6>
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=663763df2c&e=7754ff55e6>
PROPOSED WTO AGREEMENT ON FISHERIES IS AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF INDIA AND
FISHING COMMUNITIES
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=f7dfde4822&e=7754ff55e6>
India’s National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) has submitted an urgent letter to
the Government of India stating its principled opposition to the proposed
@wto agreement to eliminate fisheries subsidies which is expected to be
adopted during the #MC12. Focus fully supports the stand of the fishworkers
calling for India to reject this flawed agreement that will benefit the
rich countries and their corporate fisheries. #EndWTO
Read the Letter
<https://focusweb.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0f47da10675ae0867f879c8ed&id=48cbec9cc5&e=7754ff55e6>
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