On December 19, WTO members reached a historic Nairobi package of six ministerial decisions on agriculture, cotton and the LDC at their 10th Ministerial Conference.  Among them, WTO members promised to eliminate agricultural export subsidies, which is regarded as the most important agricultural negotiation outcome in the 20-year history of the WTO.  

1. Wto members reached a historic package agreement  

The historic Nairobi package of agreements reached by WTO members at the 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) will benefit the least developed country (LDC) members of the WTO and is the best reward for MC10 host Kenya, the WTO website reported on December 19.  

The Nairobi package includes six ministerial decisions on agriculture, cotton and the LDC.  Among them, WTO members pledged to eliminate agricultural export subsidies, which WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo hailed as "the most important agricultural negotiation outcome in the 20-year history of the WTO."  

Azevedo pointed out that in Bali two years ago, WTO members achieved something that has never been achieved in the history of the WTO, concluding a number of major multilateral trade agreements.  In Nairobi, we succeeded once again in achieving something as important as the Bali package.  

Kenya's Foreign Affairs and Trade minister, Armina Amina, who is hosting the MC10, said WTO ministers had encountered significant challenges in the talks, forcing the one-day extension.  In the end, ministers took tough decisions and we gritted our teeth and got through it.  The MC10 results have consolidated the WTO's central position in global trade governance.  

MC10 outcomes include: agricultural decisions on export competition, permanent solutions for food security, special safeguard mechanisms and cotton;  Decision on preferential rules of origin and service exemptions benefiting LDC;  To fully conclude negotiations on the expansion of the Information Technology Agreement;  The decision to approve the accession of Afghanistan and Liberia to the WTO.  

Moreover, the MC10 Ministerial Declaration reaffirms the centrality of the WTO in global trade governance and emphasizes that regional agreements are complementary to, not substitutes for, the multilateral trading system.  In reaffirming the Doha Round, while the Ministerial Declaration acknowledged the members' differences on the future path of the Doha Round, all members committed to vigorously advancing the resolution of the remaining Doha issues, with development at its core. 

Ii. MC10 Results Support Agricultural reform But differences persist in the Doha Round  

The MC10 group reached agreement on a range of issues, including agricultural export subsidies and food aid, but developed and developing members remained divided over the path to the Doha round.  

Speaking at the closing ceremony, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the MC10 marked a turning point for the WTO, with members achieving a number of important outcomes on agriculture and development.  More importantly, the WTO will enter a new phase in its development process. Next year, WTO members will be free to consider new ways to resolve the outstanding issues of the Doha Round and to begin studying new issues related to the Organization.  

The host of the MC10, Kenya's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Armina Amina, had warned before the MC10 meeting that the WTO's negotiating function was on the verge of collapse.  After a week of hard negotiations, she said, the WTO has been strengthened by MC10, which for her is an important step in bridging the divide between developed and developing members.  

The final 24 hours of negotiations, which were temporarily added to four days of meetings, produced a series of outcomes, including the elimination of agricultural export subsidies and restrictions on agricultural export credits.  But on the Doha path, developing members led by China and India insist on a full Doha round, while the US wants it abandoned.  In the end, the two groups reached a compromise on the issue.  According to EU officials, the compromise means that more issues could be added to the Doha agenda in the future.  

3. MC10 brings surprising results to Africa  

According to All Afica on December 19, the first ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be held in Africa has produced a pleasant surprise for the continent, which will expand market access for both developed and developing countries.  

Prior to MC10, despite WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo's constant appeal that MC10 should deliver development results for LDCS, many key issues were still excluded from the scope of this ministerial meeting, and African countries almost lost hope of achieving tangible results on MC10.  

However, the MC10, which closed today, reached ministerial decisions in favour of African countries in four areas - preferential rules of origin, tariff-free and quota-free treatment, workable service exemptions and the removal of agricultural export subsidies.  These measures will effectively expand Africa's export opportunities and help Africa benefit from trade. 

4. MC10 achieved landmark results on development issues  

The MC10 Agricultural export Competition outcome will eliminate trade-distorting agricultural export subsidies for the benefit of developing countries around the world, including African countries, and will level the export playing field for EU agricultural producers for the first time, according to a European Commission press release on December 19.  

'Negotiators worked hard day and night during the MC10, and our efforts finally paid off,' said EU Trade Commissioner Marcin Malmstrom.  The EU has successfully achieved its goal of participating in this meeting.  As the first WTO ministerial meeting held in Africa, MC10 has achieved results in favor of developing members.  The Minister decided to further open up global trade and investment, strengthen the multilateral trading system, and prove to those who are skeptical that the WTO is capable of negotiating by achieving tangible results, which will have a positive impact on the future work of the WTO.  

Building on the Bali package agreement two years ago, this ministerial meeting has achieved three pro-development outcomes.  First, it will eliminate unfair agricultural export subsidies and other export support programs and accelerate the elimination of cotton subsidies to protect the interests of poor farmers in developing countries. Second, it will ensure that food aid to developing countries does not affect the market of recipient countries.  Third, the preferential rules of origin should be adopted to simplify the trade procedures with the least developed countries and give them more opportunities to export goods and services.  

For EU members, the outcome of this meeting will provide EU agricultural producers with a more level playing field for exports compared with other developed and emerging economies. In particular, the elimination of flour, sugar and dairy products will bring tangible benefits to EU agricultural producers.  In addition, the MC10 has reached talks to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which covers $1.2 trillion of global trade.  The outcomes of MC10, which are consistent with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Change Conference, will lay a solid foundation for the WTO to continue its work in 2016.  

5. MC10 failed to agree on a reaffirmation of the Doha Round mandate, and some members expressed disappointment  

New Delhi: India expressed its "total" disappointment that the MC10 ministerial Declaration did not reaffirm the Doha Round, despite concluding with a ministerial declaration granting developing members access to the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for agricultural products and pledging to seek permanent solutions to food security.  

Nirvana Sitharaman, India's commerce and industry minister, stressed that India had made it clear in the talks that it was opposed to a vague text on the renewal of the Doha round.  The final ministerial declaration was formulated separately, despite the insistence of WTO members, including China, India, the G33 and the African Group, to reaffirm the Doha round.  The Indian side said it was "thoroughly" disappointed.  

On the SSM and food security Permanent solution, Sitharaman said India had done all it could in the MC10 negotiations and had not taken a backward step.  The declaration reflects India's commitment to work towards the eventual permanent food security solution and SSM, both of which India scores. 

6. The WTO moves forward in the Doha impasse  

MC1O may have put the final nail in the coffin of the Doha round, clearing the way for the WTO to focus on smaller trade deals that are more likely to succeed in the future, the Financial Times reported on December 20.  

Trade ministers from the 162 WTO members failed to agree in Nairobi to renew the Doha Round.  It was the first WTO ministerial declaration since the start of the Doha round that did not reaffirm it, a victory for the US and EU opponents.  The ministerial declaration also makes it possible for the WTO to discuss new issues in the future, such as e-commerce and investment.  

The MC10 agreement includes a small package of agreements that eliminate agricultural export subsidies, restrict agricultural export credits, and provide greater market access for poor cotton-producing countries  

And on the Doha round  

The rules reflect long-standing divisions among WTO members over how to move the negotiations forward.  Since WTO decisions are made by consensus, the failure to reaffirm the Doha outcome amounts to the US achieving its goal of getting out of the round.  U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the WTO's path to a new era began in Nairobi, even as members failed to agree on the Doha Round  

.  On the other hand, India and one  

Civil society groups say the MC10 is a blow to the world's poor and that the WTO betrayed its poorest members by walking away from Doha.  

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo pointed out that despite the differences among the members of the Doha Round, the MC10 still achieved remarkable results, indicating that the WTO can achieve important results through negotiations.  He stressed that the elimination of agricultural export subsidies was the most important agricultural outcome of the group's 20-year history.  But he also called on WTO members to "take a clear view of the situation" and "confront the problem and solve it".  He told ministers that "the world will decide the future of this organisation". 

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