WTO Dispute Settlement Body Reforms: Experts Urge Developing Nations to Push for Formal Talks

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) The developing member countries of the WTO need to continuously raise their concerns on the informal process being followed by developed nations to discuss dispute settlement body's reforms, according to trade experts.

They said that the developing countries should bat for starting formal negotiations by all the members to reform the body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"It would be relevant and useful for the developing countries to continue to articulate their concerns on the process, preferably collectively, and also strive for an early formalization of the process," international trade expert Abhijit Das said.

He said that the reform should take into account the interests of the developing countries, and not be mainly in the interest of the US and the European Union (EU).

The experts stated that the present informal deliberations are creating hindrance for several nations to participate in the talks and formal talks on the issue can help in arriving at some kind of consensus by the 13th ministerial conference (MC), the highest decision making body of the WTO, in Abu Dhabi in February next year.

Expressing concerns over a WTO chair's summary, recently issued after a meeting of senior officials in Geneva last month, on this subject, Das said that participating in the ongoing process provides the ground for continuation of the informal chair-led process.

"This would make it difficult for developing countries to shift to a formal process at an early date," he said.

WTO's dispute settlement body (DSB) is one of the important arms of the 164-member Geneva-based body. Besides monitoring global exports and imports related rules, it adjudicates trade disputes between the member countries.

Normally in the WTO, talks through a formal process involves submissions of papers on the subject for discussions among all the members.

Trade expert and Hi-Tech Gears Chairman Deep Kapuria has said that the US' leadership is crucial for breaking the deadlock in WTO, which is facing multiple challenges.

On agriculture related matters, the experts stated that the WTO members should work collectively on finding a solution to the issue of public stockholding, which is key for developing nations for their food security issues.

India has urged for starting text-based negotiations on finding a solution to the issue.

Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said that WTO's senior officials' meeting in Geneva on October 23-24 highlighted differences among members, and difficult prospects for a fruitful MC13.

"While maximalist position of developed countries seem to have been reflected in the Chair's summary, the views of developing countries do not appear to have been accurately captured," Srivastava said.