World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Roberto Azevedo is in New Delhi to discuss with the industry, academia and the government for ways of making the next Ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December deliver results.

In an e-emailed interview with BusinessLine , Azevedo talks about wide ranging issues such as New Delhi’s concerns about slow progress on food security matters, the stress on e-commerce by many developed countries and the need to protect livelihood of the fishing community. Excerpts:

Do you see e-commerce emerging as a potential area of negotiations in Buenos Aires?

E-commerce is one of many areas where there is active engagement by WTO members with a number of proposals having been put forward over the last year. But, some countries have raised different questions and concerns. Like all other issues under discussion, the proponents need to be clear about what they are seeking if they are to build support for their proposals. Again, whether or not anything happens in this area by Buenos Aires will be for the WTO members to decide.

Are you hopeful that countries like India, opposing negotiations on e-commerce, would come around? Could they pose a problem?

India always defends its interests vigorously and if the Indian government believes that negotiations, at this point, on any aspect of e-commerce are not in the country’s interests then that is perfectly legitimate. It is a reflection of the government’s assessment of what is best for the country. This is the way things work in international negotiations.

How real is the concern that pending issues from Nairobi, such as allowing public procurement subsidies and special safeguard measures for farmers, are not progressing enough for a possible resolution at Buenos Aires?

These are legitimate concerns. In my view, the progress in these areas has been very slow. We need key WTO members to table concrete proposals that offer clever ways of breaking through this logjam.

Will special efforts be made to ensure that negotiations move ahead?

Absolutely. We have a mandate on both issues and we must do all we can to fulfil them. I am ready to facilitate work on these issues and in fact convened a meeting on agriculture just before leaving for Delhi, but ultimately, like everything else in the WTO, the process is driven by the members – or, more specifically, by the proponents. Some fresh thinking on these issues is always helpful. I will continue to urge members to show the flexibility necessary to make progress.

Can India insist on flexibilities in the negotiations to curb fisheries subsidies to protect its small fishing communities?

It is unlikely that small fishing communities are a major factor when it comes to the problem of the depletion of global fish stocks. WTO members agreed in 2015 that they would, as part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, strike a deal by 2020 to prohibit subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. I am confident that it is possible to do this while taking the interests of small fishing communities into account.

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