By Biswajit Dhar, Ranja Sengupta, and Abhijit Das | Commentary | March 11, 2024
The 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization ended in Abu Dhabi with minimal consensus. MC13 was scheduled to end on February 29 but was extended by a day as the WTO’s 166 members failed to reach consensus on several key issues, such as agriculture, fisheries subsidies, ending the moratorium on e-commerce trade, and dispute settlement reform.
Despite high hopes, MC13 failed to deliver positive results for the global trading system amid worsening geopolitical tensions and economic headwinds….
By Kavaljit Singh | Commentary | February 20, 2024
With less than a week to go until the World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), to be held in Abu Dhabi from February 26, consensus from all members on support for the proposed Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) is still missing. The proposed IFDA has thus far received the support of three-quarters of WTO members, while some prominent members, such as India and South Africa, have opposed this initiative and may not give their consent to the proposed…
By Biswajit Dhar | Briefing Paper # 64 | February 19, 2024
Later this month, Trade Ministers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) would meet for their 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi at a time when the multilateral trading system is losing its existential battle. This “ruled-based organisation” mandated to ensure orderly conduct of global trade through a set of rules that were mostly negotiated before 1990 when the organisation had less than 100 members. Over the past four and a half decades, the needs and aspirations of members…
By Kavaljit Singh | Commentary | November 28, 2023
Hectic parleys are currently underway to incorporate a new agreement on investment facilitation at the World Trade Organization after 112 WTO members concluded text negotiations on an Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) on 6 July 2023. WTO members participating in the talks on IFDA hope that the proposed agreement will reach another important milestone at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) to be held in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. The Ministerial Conference is the WTO’s highest decision-making body,…
By Tathagata Choudhury | Briefing Paper # 63 | August 17, 2023
India is an attractive destination for foreign investment (among the top 10 investment-importing countries) and is increasingly growing as an outward investor (among the top 20 investment-exporting countries). and has been relatively active in signing bilateral investment treaties (BIT).
Like most older generation BITs, these treaties were negotiated to promote…
