On multilateral negotiations in view of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi 26-29 February 2024
B-9-2024-0090
on behalf of the Committee on International Trade · Rapporteur: Bernd Lange, Jörgen Warborn
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Parliament's resolution sets out its position ahead of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi on 26-29 February 2024. It calls for a substantive reform of the WTO, a fully functioning dispute-settlement system, and a successful outcome at MC13.¶¶¶ It urges WTO members to ratify the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement and to agree disciplines on subsidies causing overcapacity and overfishing. It asks for progress on agriculture, food security, State support for industry, and development.¶¶¶ It supports integrating open plurilateral agreements into the WTO, including the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, and rules on digital trade and e-commerce. It calls for a decision on the TRIPS waiver extension by MC13.¶¶¶ It wants MC13 to back the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, and to advance work on fossil fuel subsidies, plastic pollution and environmental sustainability. It calls for strengthening the parliamentary dimension of the WTO.¶¶
Key points
- Reiterates commitment to multilateralism and calls for a trade agenda based on fair, rules-based trade that promotes the Sustainable Development Goals, health, social, environmental and human rights.¶
- Urges all WTO members to ensure a successful MC13, to conclude the second phase of the fisheries subsidies agreement and to adopt a comprehensive package of institutional reforms.¶
- Calls for a substantive reform of the WTO covering its monitoring, negotiating, deliberative and dispute-settlement functions, with attention to its parliamentary dimension.¶
- Calls for restoring a fully functioning dispute-settlement system, regrets the lack of substantial progress, and invites members to join the multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement (MPIA).¶¶
- Urges members to ratify the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, requiring ratification by two thirds of the membership, and to agree disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing.¶
- Stresses mainstreaming the development dimension, revising special and differential treatment, and welcomes the decision on support measures for least-developed countries graduating from that status.¶
- Calls for reinvigorating discussions on State support for industrial sectors, including updating the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and for MC13 to launch a time-limited work programme for recommendations to MC14.¶
- Calls for progress in agriculture negotiations on public stockholding, domestic support, market access, cotton, export restrictions and export competition, and for better transparency on agriculture policies and subsidies.¶
- Underlines the need for an outcome on food security, including actions to increase the resilience of least-developed countries and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries.¶
- Supports integrating open plurilateral agreements into the WTO and welcomes the conclusion of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, supporting its incorporation under Annex 4.¶¶
- Highlights rules on digital trade, supports concluding e-commerce negotiations by MC13, and calls for a permanent solution on the moratorium on electronic transmissions.¶
- Calls on WTO members to decide by MC13 on extending the TRIPS decision to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, and to review national laws to incorporate intellectual property flexibilities.¶
Who is affected
- WTO members, who are urged to ratify the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, reform the WTO and reach agreements at MC13.¶¶
- Least-developed countries and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries, for whom support measures and food security actions are sought.¶¶
- Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), whose participation in world trade and digital trade should be helped.¶¶
- Women, for whom barriers to trade participation should be removed and the adverse impacts of trade rules addressed.¶
- The Commission and the Council, which are asked to keep Parliament closely involved and updated during MC13.¶
Figures and deadlines
- USD 22 billion per year in harmful fisheries subsidies provided by governments.¶
- 75 % of trade still takes place on the basis of most-favoured nation (MFN) tariffs.¶
- 258 million people were in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity in 2022, up from 193 million in 2021.¶
- Digital trade currently accounts for 25 % of total trade.¶
- Ratification by two thirds of the membership is required for the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement to enter into force.¶
- The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference will take place in Abu Dhabi from 26 to 29 February 2024.¶