In the midst of the worst hunger crisis in a generation, and with the vaccine still not reaching millions around the world, governments this Sunday begin the WTO (World Trade Organization) summit in search of agreements that allow dealing with the flow of food. and immunization. However, the divided diplomats will hold intense talks in the coming days so that a memorandum can be announced. Today, however, a stalemate marks the negotiation process.
The WTO ministerial conference in Geneva comes at a time when the UN warns of an explosion in the risk of hunger and poverty. However, there is no agreement on how to deal with this reality, and observers warn that governments have begun to manipulate the crisis to achieve business goals by camouflaging it with “humanitarian concerns”.
Outside of the WTO, the Ukrainian government has proposed an agreement that would allow food supplies to remain unaffected by the war. Meanwhile, African governments are warning that the conflict in Europe threatens to push millions of people into extreme hunger. Western powers accuse the Russian government of trying to create a famine scenario, hoping to pressure the international community to serve the Kremlin’s interests.
Timur Suleimenov, head of the WTO conference, left no doubt about the difficulty of reaching an agreement. “The challenges are enormous. Mundo has been hit and we haven’t been able to overcome them,” he said. “People are questioning the multilateral system and now is the time to prove we can take action.” “One failure will cause more shock to the system. The world doesn’t need any more uncertainty,” he said.
WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iwea hopes outside the party that an agreement will be reached that would allow a corridor to discharge up to 25 million tons of grain stranded in Ukrainian ports. For him, this will “lighten” the crisis. But he warns that the debate is “political”.
He’s betting on “one or two deals” in the WTO. Its hope is the ratification of a declaration with a commitment that governments will not impose restrictions on food exports that would exacerbate the crisis and inflation. Another point of the agreement will be a commitment by countries not to limit food exports for humanitarian projects in the UN World Food Programme.
However, Ngozi makes it clear that this will not be an easy process. He admitted that he has never seen so many simultaneous crises in the world, including pandemic, famine, war, geopolitical tension, energy and climate change. “Ministers will have the opportunity to deal with all this,” he said.
“No one will be able to solve these crises alone. We need the world to work together,” he said. The director, who admitted that “it will not be easy”, pointed out that the Ukraine crisis could interrupt the negotiations. The meeting is the first in five years. “Since then, the world has changed and gotten more complex,” Ngozi warned.
Brazil proposes agreement on agricultural rules
Not by chance in Geneva, one of the main points of tension has to do with the agricultural sector. The Brazilian government has proposed a permanent agreement to allow poorer, food-importing countries to maintain and build stocks of grains and other products, but this does not mean protectionist measures or trade distortions.
The Brazilian government will be represented at the meeting by Fernando Simas Magalhães, secretary general of Itamaraty, and Lucas Ferraz, secretary of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy. Chancellor Carlos França, who accompanied President Jair Bolsonaro at the Summit of the Americas and in Orlando (Florida), will not take part in the negotiations.
For the first time in decades, there is no higher-level Brazilian delegation at a trade ministers conference.
Likewise, the fear of Brazil and other commodity exporting countries is that without clear rules, the diplomatic maneuvers of India and other governments will result in unfair competition for national products in the international market.
Discussions over food stocks left governments on opposite sides of the table. However, due to the war in Ukraine and the shortage of supplies in various sectors, the fear of international organizations is that the food crisis could spread around the world and, above all, affect the poorest population.
However, one of the main issues is cited by what food exporting countries see as India’s attempt to capitalize on the crisis to get some sort of blank check so they can subsidize its agriculture. on resources.
Today, Indians subsidize their $70 billion production, one of the largest volumes in the world. But they insist that the WTO must expand the capacity of developing countries to build up their own stockpiles.
However, an understanding must be established for Brazil. On the one hand, food importing countries must have guarantees that such stocks can be made and food safety must be ensured. But as long as the conditions are met to prevent any maneuvers of governments.
One of the criteria proposed by Brazil is that such stocking programs should only be used to guarantee a country’s food security. Stocks cannot disrupt the market or affect food security in another country.
According to Brazil’s recommendation, the stocks cannot be used for export or used as animal feed.
For the Brazilian delegation, price support policies are the ones that disrupt the markets the most. For Itamaraty, such policies cannot happen without validation when government purchases are made to build up food stocks.
Indians are still accused of trying to hijack the negotiating agenda. New Delhi’s stance is that without an agreement to release food stocks, the Indian government will not accept any deal this week that would allow the shutdown of food sent to humanitarian programmes.
Vaccine deal emptied
Another point of contention concerns the proposal, which was negotiated for 20 months and called for the expiration of patents for vaccines, treatments and other products to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.
The project presented by India and South Africa enabled the production of generic products by suspending the monopoly on these products. The result will be greater access to treatments and vaccines. But after 15 million deaths worldwide from the pandemic, there is still no agreement on how this should be done.
European countries and other wealthy economies refuse to give up patents even in the face of the worst health crisis of the century.
In recent days, a draft text has been presented that defies the expectations of activists and civil society groups calling for ambitious action. The new draft agreement deals only with vaccines, excluding treatments and other products, and sets criteria to complicate their use.
Brazil’s initial position was to support rich countries. But in recent months, the government has admitted it can negotiate a text. For representatives of civil society, this attitude was “shameful”.
“The government has abandoned our history of multilateral leadership in the defense of health,” said Alan Rossi Silva, a lawyer with the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA). “But there’s still time to change,” he said.
He and others like Médecins Sans Frontières insist that the text on the table does not represent an effective suspension of patents and that governments must push for change.
Even so, Ngozi is betting on an understanding. “After a long stalemate, we now have a text,” he said. According to him, the draft will balance between those advocating greater access to vaccines and countries seeking to protect patents.
source: Noticias
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