WTO General Council Meets on 7 Oct on TFA, Post Bali Work Halts

A meeting of the WTO’s Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) --- which is tasked with the overall Doha talks --- is scheduled next Monday, with the TFA stalemate set to be the main focus on the agenda.

The WTO chief has warned that a prolonged stalemate could have a ‘‘freezing effect’’ on the global trade body’s other work, including on efforts to advance the remaining parts of the Doha Round negotiations.

He said ‘‘this kind of construct that, when you touch one piece, everything moves.’’

Sources say that meetings of the agriculture and non-agricultural market access committees have already shown signs of this difficulty, with members unable to agree on how --- or whether --- to advance any post-Bali work, given the current impasse. Many have reportedly raised the question of whether too much trust has been lost.

Questions are being raised on how a single member can block the WTO forever, the consensus principle itself is under fire!

The US said that discussions on TFA implementation are now at the General Council level, and should not be continued in the Preparatory Committee.