India Not in Favour of Facilitator-Led Process in WTO to Discuss Agri Issues: Official

India on Monday expressed reservations over the facilitator-led process in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to discuss issues on agriculture, saying that it would potentially undermine ministerial mandates and take negotiations backwards, an official said.

The issue came up during a meeting of Heads of Delegation (HoDs) dedicated to agriculture in Geneva at the WTO.

The official said that India has stressed on the urgency to address mandated matters like public stockholding (PSH), special safeguard mechanism (SSM) and cotton issues in dedicated sessions, separate from broader agriculture negotiations.

"India noted that the facilitator-led process would potentially undermine Ministerial mandates and it would take negotiations backwards. It also raised concerns about transparency, neutrality, and inclusive discussion in the facilitator model and warned against creating new pillars, as it would complicate negotiations further," the Geneva-based official said.

Responding to India's position, WTO Director General (DG) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stated that the proposed process is not regressive but aimed at moving the process forward.

She stated that existing mandates would be respected but asked to keep an open mind in trying to move forward as traditional methods have not worked for over two and a half decades.

At the Heads of Delegation meeting, the DG added that she has detected a large convergence 'but not consensus' towards having a facilitator-led process to advance the agriculture negotiations.

This process was outlined in an initiative from the Chair of the agriculture negotiations, Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Turkiye.

Chad, on behalf of the African Group, also expressed concern about the process and proposed a more inclusive, open, and bottom-up approach with a focus on the needs of developing countries suffering from food crises.