World

Gazprom defends gas cuts as prices in Europe soar

16 Jun 2022

Russian energy giant Gazprom on Thursday defended gas cuts to Europe as prices soared and tensions raged between Russia and the West over Ukraine.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that Moscow will play by its own rules after cutting daily gas supplies to Germany and Italy.

“Our product, our rules. We don’t play by rules we didn’t create,” Miller said during a panel discussion at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia’s second city.

Earlier this week, Gazprom slashed its natural gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline, after saying Germany’s Siemens had delayed the repair work of compressor units at the Portovaya compression station. 

“For now, there is no way to solve the problem that arose with the compressor station,” Miller said.

“Siemens is still silent, trying to find a solution.”

Italian energy giant Eni also reported problems, saying it will receive only 65 percent of the gas requested Thursday from Gazprom.

Gazprom has said exports to countries that did not belong to the former Soviet Union were down 28.9 percent between January 1 and June 15 compared to the same period last year.

“Of course, Gazprom is reducing the volume of gas supplies to Europe,” Miller said, pointing out that the prices have increased several-fold.

“If I say we are not offended by anyone, then I am not pretending,” Miller said. 

Gas prices continued to soar on Thursday, galvanized by a sharp cut in supply from Russia. Europe’s reference natural gas price, Dutch TTF, reached almost 150 euros ($158) per megawatt/hour before falling to 134 euros in the afternoon. 

Moscow has lost several European gas clients after it demanded that all “unfriendly” countries pay for Russian natural gas in rubles in response to a barrage of Western sanctions over Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.

Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands have had their natural gas deliveries suspended over refusing to pay in rubles. 

The Nord Stream pipeline was commissioned in 2012 and delivers gas from northwestern Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea.  

The launch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was set to double Russian gas deliveries to Germany was halted in response to Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. 

“Nord Stream 2 is under pressure and gas could be supplied to Germany even today via it. But it has not been put in operation because it is not certified,” Miller said.

EU countries have scrambled to reduce their dependency on Russian energy but are divided about imposing a natural gas embargo as several member states are heavily reliant on Moscow’s energy supplies.

US baby formula plant again halts production due to flooding

17 Jun 2022

Abbott Nutrition has once again shut down a baby formula plant, this time due to heavy rains and flooding, less than two weeks after it reopened to try and mitigate a crippling US shortage.

The facility in Sturgis, Michigan resumed production on June 4, only to close down again earlier this week so the company could assess rain damage.

Severe thunderstorms that battered southwestern Michigan on Monday resulted in “high winds, hail, power outages and flood damage,” as well as “flooding in parts of the city, including areas of our plant,” Abbott said in a statement posted to their website Wednesday night.

“As a result, Abbott has stopped production of its EleCare specialty formula that was underway to assess damage caused by the storm and clean and re-sanitize the plant,” the statement said.

“This will likely delay production and distribution of new product for a few weeks.”

The plant, a major producer of formula, shut down in February and issued a product recall after the death of two babies raised concerns over contamination.

That worsened to a widespread forumla shortage caused by supply issues, which was particularly concerning to parents of infants with allergies or with certain metabolic conditions, who desperately scoured stores and online sources for the specialized formulas.

The crisis prompted President Joe Biden last month to bring in formula from Europe on commercial planes contracted by the US military. He also invoked the Defense Production Act to give baby formula manufacturers first priority in supplies.

Abbott, which controls about 40 percent of the US baby food market, had announced its hypoallergenic EleCare formula and should be back on store shelves around June 20.

In the statement Wednesday, the manufacturer assured consumers that it had “ample existing supply” of EleCare and most of its other specialty formulas to meet demand until production could resume again.

The formula shortage, coming at a time when soaring inflation and supply-chain delays have fanned a growing sense of unease among many American families, and Biden critics have seized on the situation to question the competence of his administration.

Developing countries left 'disappointed' at climate talks

17 Jun 2022

Developing countries voiced “disappointment” as climate talks in Germany ended Thursday with frustrations flaring over a lack of momentum on helping vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of warming.

With world attention drawn towards other challenges, notably Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and spiralling food, energy and economic crises, the technical discussions meant to lay the groundwork for key United Nations negotiations later this year were mired in disagreements.

Representatives of nearly 200 countries arrived in the city of Bonn buoyed by the ambition displayed six months ago during the UN COP26 negotiations in Glasgow, where countries rallied around the urgent threat of climate change.

“After that sense of emergency had been established, probably the expectations were very high,” said Preety Bhandari, senior climate adviser at the World Resources Institute.

But the meeting produced little tangible progress, even on the emissions-cutting ambitions that countries have agreed are needed to meet the Paris agreement goal of limiting warming to preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.   

Finance is an ongoing sore point, with a promise of $100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries adapt to a warming world still not met.

Another flashpoint at the talks has been the slow pace of work on “loss and damage”, the accelerating onslaught of impacts already being felt by vulnerable countries, like floods, heatwaves and storms.

Developing nations want a specific funding “facility” to help poor countries least responsible for climate change to cope with its impacts.

But that call has been rejected by wealthy nations, particularly the European Union and United States, who have said funding can be channelled through a network of existing humanitarian, development and climate organisations.

As the Bonn talks wrapped up, developing countries lined up to convey their displeasure at the slow progress on loss and damage, which is now being dealt with as a rolling “dialogue” that will end in 2024 with no clear outcome emerging.

They want the issue to be on the agenda at the COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheik in November.  

Pakistan’s representative, speaking on behalf of the G77 and China major developing countries, said the group was “dissatisfied”, while Zambia, speaking on behalf of Africa, said they were “concerned by the lack of progress”.

“We are disappointed by the lack of substantive progress,” said the representative of Antigua and Barbados speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).  

He said countries were still waiting for assurances that “the finance we need now will be delivered at speed, or any time by 2025”.

– ‘Hypocritical’ –

Wealthy nations are concerned about any suggestion of legal liability that would put them on the hook for billions, if not trillions.

The European Union told delegates it had “engaged constructively” and promised to continue.

But campaigners say the current system puts the economic burden on the shoulders of the most vulnerable.

Harjeet Singh, Senior Climate Impacts Adviser, at Climate Action Network International said the EU “consistently blocked” discussions around finance for loss and damage and accused the bloc of having a “hypocritical stance”.

“If the EU wants to step up as a climate champion it needs to align with the most vulnerable in their fight for justice,” he said. 

Bhandari said work on cutting emissions could stall if countries do not give more weight to both adaptation and mitigation, adding that it would be up to political leaders to reignite the momentum in the run up to the UN meeting in Egypt.

Nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming since the mid-nineteenth century has been enough to unleash a torrent of disasters across the planet. 

Alden Meyer, senior associate at E3G, said it has reached “boiling point” as impacts mount,  adding that countries can also see the billions that the US and EU are mobilising for the Ukraine conflict.  

“It’s not a matter of the money’s not there. It’s a matter of priorities,” he told AFP. 

“And if you’re saying climate is an existential crisis, and yet you’re treating other things as much more important in terms of where you’re putting your money, that doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Developing countries left 'disappointed' at climate talks

16 Jun 2022

Developing countries voiced “disappointment” as climate talks in Germany ended Thursday with frustrations flaring over a lack of momentum on helping vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of warming.

With world attention drawn towards other challenges, notably Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and spiralling food, energy and economic crises, the technical discussions meant to lay the groundwork for key United Nations negotiations later this year were mired in disagreements.

Representatives of nearly 200 countries arrived in the city of Bonn buoyed by the ambition displayed six months ago during the UN COP26 negotiations in Glasgow, where countries rallied around the urgent threat of climate change.

“After that sense of emergency had been established, probably the expectations were very high,” said Preety Bhandari, senior climate adviser at the World Resources Institute.

But the meeting produced little tangible progress, even on the emissions-cutting ambitions that countries have agreed are needed to meet the Paris agreement goal of limiting warming to preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.   

Finance is an ongoing sore point, with a promise of $100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries adapt to a warming world still not met.

Another flashpoint at the talks has been the slow pace of work on “loss and damage”, the accelerating onslaught of impacts already being felt by vulnerable countries, like floods, heatwaves and storms.

Developing nations want a specific funding “facility” to help poor countries least responsible for climate change to cope with its impacts.

But that call has been rejected by wealthy nations, particularly the European Union and United States, who have said funding can be channelled through a network of existing humanitarian, development and climate organisations.

As the Bonn talks wrapped up, developing countries lined up to convey their displeasure at the slow progress on loss and damage, which is now being dealt with as a rolling “dialogue” that will end in 2024 with no clear outcome emerging.

They want the issue to be on the agenda at the COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheik in November.  

Pakistan’s representative, speaking on behalf of the G77 and China major developing countries, said the group was “dissatisfied”, while Zambia, speaking on behalf of Africa, said they were “concerned by the lack of progress”.

“We are disappointed by the lack of substantive progress,” said the representative of Antigua and Barbados speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).  

He said countries were still waiting for assurances that “the finance we need now will be delivered at speed, or any time by 2025”.

– ‘Hypocritical’ –

Wealthy nations are concerned about any suggestion of legal liability that would put them on the hook for billions, if not trillions.

The European Union told delegates it had “engaged constructively” and promised to continue.

But campaigners say the current system puts the economic burden on the shoulders of the most vulnerable.

Harjeet Singh, Senior Climate Impacts Adviser, at Climate Action Network International said the EU “consistently blocked” discussions around finance for loss and damage and accused the bloc of having a “hypocritical stance”.

“If the EU wants to step up as a climate champion it needs to align with the most vulnerable in their fight for justice,” he said. 

Bhandari said work on cutting emissions could stall if countries do not give more weight to both adaptation and mitigation, adding that it would be up to political leaders to reignite the momentum in the run up to the UN meeting in Egypt.

Nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming since the mid-nineteenth century has been enough to unleash a torrent of disasters across the planet. 

Alden Meyer, senior associate at E3G, said it has reached “boiling point” as impacts mount,  adding that countries can also see the billions that the US and EU are mobilising for the Ukraine conflict.  

“It’s not a matter of the money’s not there. It’s a matter of priorities,” he told AFP. 

“And if you’re saying climate is an existential crisis, and yet you’re treating other things as much more important in terms of where you’re putting your money, that doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Binance boss bullish despite crypto crash

16 Jun 2022

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay and their dramatic recent crash is just part of an economic cycle, Changpeng Zhao, one of crypto’s most influential figures, told AFP in an interview on Thursday.

The China-born Canadian entrepreneur heads Binance, the biggest exchange in the market that boasted $32 trillion in transactions last year and 120 million customers.

“It does cause worries,” Zhao said of a slump that has wiped $2 trillion from the value of crypto assets in the past seven months. “But we expect this, it’s not unusual, the markets go up and down, stock markets go up and down.” 

The unflappable mogul, who talked to AFP at the VivaTech conference in Paris, largely steers clear of the flashy displays of wealth associated with many crypto entrepreneurs.

Casually dressed in a company polo shirt, the 44-year-old, who describes himself as a “normal guy”, calmly explained how the firm had weathered a storm that saw others collapse.

“I think we’ve just been very frugal in our spending,” he said.

“We didn’t spend heavily on advertising, we didn’t name stadiums, we didn’t sponsor Super Bowl.” 

He quickly added that he did not believe such outlays were necessarily bad, seemingly keen not to directly criticise competitors.

Zhao had earlier tweeted a similar jibe that many took to be directed at Coinbase, a US exchange that spent heavily on flashy ads but is now laying off hundreds of workers.

By way of contrast, Zhao announced this week that Binance was hiring 2,000 new workers.

– ‘Bad tool’ for criminals –

Binance operates in a largely unregulated corner of the economy that is accused of being a haven for money-laundering, scams, sanctions busting and even terrorist funding.

Zhao called the money-laundering links a “complete myth”.

“We work with law enforcement everywhere in the world,” he said, highlighting that his firm employs ex-law enforcement officers.

“With large data you can really figure out who owns which address with a fairly high degree of certainty,” he said of blockchain, the digital ledger that underpins crypto. 

“Because of that, most criminals do not use blockchain for criminal activity. It’s just a very bad tool.”

Nevertheless, he treaded carefully when asked if he supported further regulation. 

“The regulators don’t know what to regulate,” he said.

“We have to wait for the industry to develop a little bit and then figure out the regulations.”

He said it could take decades, pointing out that even now banks continued to face new regulations. 

– Killer apps –

Critics see crypto as a glorified ponzi scheme and believe the industry will not last for decades, but enthusiasts like Zhao are keen to compare it with the tech industry of the early 2000s.

He said many companies went to the wall in the 2000s but the sector emerged stronger, helmed by titans like Google and Amazon.

But there is a crucial difference — those internet pioneers had an obvious utility. Few can clearly state the utility of crypto.

Zhao lists what he sees as the “killer apps”, which amount to facilitating fundraising for start-ups and generating income for artists.

“It allows artists and content creators to access a global audience, you cannot do that with traditional art galleries, the infrastructure is just not there,” he said.

He also repeated the idea that cryptocurrencies would allow those without bank accounts to have some means of storing their wealth and transferring money across borders.

Though critics point out that high transaction fees, tricky to use software and low security mean this is unlikely to become reality any time soon.

And Zhao is reluctant to be drawn on how the prices of crypto assets might recover in the short term, preferring to fall back on the comparison with tech firms whose services we use every day.

“I believe in 20 years everybody will be using blockchain technology for transacting value,” he said. “But they may not even think about it.”

US urges Russia to open Ukrainian ports for grain exports

17 Jun 2022

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called on Russia Thursday to rapidly open Ukraine’s ports to permit the export of millions of tonnes of stockpiled grain.

“They should be acting immediately to open up those ports and they should end this war,” Vilsack told reporters at the United Nations.

“This is serious thing, we shouldn’t be using food as a weapon,” he said.

The United Nations has been deep in talks between Moscow, Kyiv and Ankara for weeks on how to open up the Black Sea, where the Russian navy has created a blockade around Ukraine, to commercial cargo ships to carry the grain to global markets.

Such an agreement would also permit Russian fertilizer, now blocked by sanctions, to return to the global market.

With grain prices soaring internationally and key importers in the Middle East and Africa facing supply shortfalls, Moscow has demanded that economic sanctions on it be lifted in exchange for allowing the exports.

Vilsack said US and European sanctions do not apply to grains and fertilizers.

Addressing the ongoing talks on the issue, Vilsack said he hoped that Russia would “take this thing seriously and that they’re not just doing this to create an image.”

He urged Moscow “to make sure that they are negotiating in good faith about the reopening of the ports and they do so quickly. Because the need is immediate.”

Vilsack said a US proposal to build silos in Poland to receive Ukrainian grain was to reduce the possibility of spoilage before the grain can transported to markets.

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara is ready to host a four-way meeting with the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine to organize the export of grain through the Black Sea. 

Under the plan, safe corridors for grain exports from Ukraine could be established without de-mining in the Black Sea, he said.

“If Russia answers positively, there will be a four-partite meeting in Istanbul,” Cavusoglu said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

US urges Russia to open Ukrainian ports for grain exports

16 Jun 2022

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called on Russia Thursday to rapidly open Ukraine’s ports to permit the export of millions of tonnes of stockpiled grain.

“They should be acting immediately to open up those ports and they should end this war,” Vilsack told reporters at the United Nations.

“This is serious thing, we shouldn’t be using food as a weapon,” he said.

The United Nations has been deep in talks between Moscow, Kyiv and Ankara for weeks on how to open up the Black Sea, where the Russian navy has created a blockade around Ukraine, to commercial cargo ships to carry the grain to global markets.

Such an agreement would also permit Russian fertilizer, now blocked by sanctions, to return to the global market.

With grain prices soaring internationally and key importers in the Middle East and Africa facing supply shortfalls, Moscow has demanded that economic sanctions on it be lifted in exchange for allowing the exports.

Vilsack said US and European sanctions do not apply to grains and fertilizers.

Addressing the ongoing talks on the issue, Vilsack said he hoped that Russia would “take this thing seriously and that they’re not just doing this to create an image.”

He urged Moscow “to make sure that they are negotiating in good faith about the reopening of the ports and they do so quickly. Because the need is immediate.”

Vilsack said a US proposal to build silos in Poland to receive Ukrainian grain was to reduce the possibility of spoilage before the grain can transported to markets.

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara is ready to host a four-way meeting with the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine to organize the export of grain through the Black Sea. 

Under the plan, safe corridors for grain exports from Ukraine could be established without de-mining in the Black Sea, he said.

“If Russia answers positively, there will be a four-partite meeting in Istanbul,” Cavusoglu said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Bolsonaro blamed as evidence mounts of Amazon murders

16 Jun 2022

Nature defenders, colleagues and family of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira expressed anger Thursday as evidence mounted they were murdered in the Amazon, laying the blame at the door of Brazil’s government.

Guardian contributor Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, went missing on June 5 in a remote part of the rainforest that is rife with illegal mining, fishing and logging, as well as drug trafficking.

Ten days later, on Wednesday, a suspect named Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira took police to a place where he said he had helped bury bodies near the city of Atalaia do Norte, where the pair had been headed.

Human remains unearthed from the site were to be brought to Brazilia Thursday to be officially identified by experts. Results are likely expected by next week.

Late Wednesday, the federal police chief of Brazil’s northern Amazonas state said there was “a 99-percent probability” the remains “corresponded” to the missing men.

They had apparently been shot.

Phillips, a long-time contributor to The Guardian and other leading international newspapers, was working on a book on sustainable development in the Amazon, with Pereira as his guide, when they went missing.

Pereira, an expert at Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency FUNAI, had received multiple threats from loggers and miners trying to invade isolated Indigenous land.

– ‘Heartbroken’ –

Phillips’ family said in a statement they were “heartbroken” by the discovery of two bodies Wednesday, which they took as confirmation that the pair were murdered.

Greenpeace Brazil said the deaths were “a direct result of the agenda of President Jair Bolsonaro for the Amazon, which opens the way for predatory activities and crimes to be reproduced in broad daylight.”

The Javari Valley where the men went missing — an area near the borders with Peru and Colombia — is home to about 20 isolated Indigenous groups where drug traffickers, loggers, miners and illegal fishermen operate. 

“In the last three years, our country has increasingly become a land where the only valid law is that of ‘anything goes,” said Greenpeace of the Bolsonaro term.

“It has become a land of invasion and land grabbing; of mining and illegal logging; of territorial conflicts, and where it’s worth killing to ensure that none of these criminal activities are prevented from happening. All this is fueled by the actions and omissions of the Brazilian government.” 

Bolsonaro has pushed to develop the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, since he took office in 2019.

On Wednesday, he drew fresh criticism for saying Phillips was “disliked” for his reporting on the region and should have been more careful.

“The level of violence applied to Bruno and Dom makes clear how the Amazon is at the mercy of the law of the most powerful, under which brutality is the rule,” said WWF Brazil.

“The State abandoned the Amazon due to a meaningless project of destruction of the forest and extermination of its peoples.”

– ‘Political crime’ –

The Univaja Indigenous peoples grouping, which had taken part in the search, denounced the suspected killings as a “political crime,” while the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism said “the president and his allies have become protagonists of attacks on the press” uncovering environmental crimes.

Jonathan Watts, a colleague of Phillips at The Guardian, told AFP in London the “monstrous” crime should not deter journalists and others from exposing the truth.

“People dead for defending Indigenous lands and the environment. Brazil cannot be that,” said ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will face Bolsonaro in October elections.

Investigations continue into the motive for the crime as well as the role played by Oliveira and fellow suspect Oseney da Costa de Oliveira. 

Brazilian media report there may be three more people involved. Police have not confirmed the information, but have not ruled out more arrests.

Bolsonaro blamed as evidence mounts of Amazon murders

16 Jun 2022

Nature defenders, colleagues and family of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira expressed anger Thursday as evidence mounted they were murdered in the Amazon, laying the blame at the door of Brazil’s government.

Guardian contributor Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, went missing on June 5 in a remote part of the rainforest that is rife with illegal mining, fishing and logging, as well as drug trafficking.

Ten days later, on Wednesday, a suspect named Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira took police to a place where he said he had helped bury bodies near the city of Atalaia do Norte, where the pair had been headed.

Human remains unearthed from the site were to be brought to Brazilia Thursday to be officially identified by experts. Results are likely expected by next week.

Late Wednesday, the federal police chief of Brazil’s northern Amazonas state said there was “a 99-percent probability” the remains “corresponded” to the missing men.

They had apparently been shot.

Phillips, a long-time contributor to The Guardian and other leading international newspapers, was working on a book on sustainable development in the Amazon, with Pereira as his guide, when they went missing.

Pereira, an expert at Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency FUNAI, had received multiple threats from loggers and miners trying to invade isolated Indigenous land.

– ‘Heartbroken’ –

Phillips’ family said in a statement they were “heartbroken” by the discovery of two bodies Wednesday, which they took as confirmation that the pair were murdered.

Greenpeace Brazil said the deaths were “a direct result of the agenda of President Jair Bolsonaro for the Amazon, which opens the way for predatory activities and crimes to be reproduced in broad daylight.”

The Javari Valley where the men went missing — an area near the borders with Peru and Colombia — is home to about 20 isolated Indigenous groups where drug traffickers, loggers, miners and illegal fishermen operate. 

“In the last three years, our country has increasingly become a land where the only valid law is that of ‘anything goes,” said Greenpeace of the Bolsonaro term.

“It has become a land of invasion and land grabbing; of mining and illegal logging; of territorial conflicts, and where it’s worth killing to ensure that none of these criminal activities are prevented from happening. All this is fueled by the actions and omissions of the Brazilian government.” 

Bolsonaro has pushed to develop the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, since he took office in 2019.

On Wednesday, he drew fresh criticism for saying Phillips was “disliked” for his reporting on the region and should have been more careful.

“The level of violence applied to Bruno and Dom makes clear how the Amazon is at the mercy of the law of the most powerful, under which brutality is the rule,” said WWF Brazil.

“The State abandoned the Amazon due to a meaningless project of destruction of the forest and extermination of its peoples.”

– ‘Political crime’ –

The Univaja Indigenous peoples grouping, which had taken part in the search, denounced the suspected killings as a “political crime,” while the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism said “the president and his allies have become protagonists of attacks on the press” uncovering environmental crimes.

Jonathan Watts, a colleague of Phillips at The Guardian, told AFP in London the “monstrous” crime should not deter journalists and others from exposing the truth.

“People dead for defending Indigenous lands and the environment. Brazil cannot be that,” said ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will face Bolsonaro in October elections.

Investigations continue into the motive for the crime as well as the role played by Oliveira and fellow suspect Oseney da Costa de Oliveira. 

Brazilian media report there may be three more people involved. Police have not confirmed the information, but have not ruled out more arrests.

WTO talks go deep into overtime

16 Jun 2022

Talks at the World Trade Organization went deep into overtime on Thursday with key holdout India talking up the prospects for a landmark deal spanning food security, fishing and combating Covid-19.

With ministers struggling to conclude agreements on each separate issue, countries were going round the clock making trade-offs which, they hope, could see several measures go through in a grand bargain.

Ministers from the global trade body’s 164 members have been negotiating face-to-face since Sunday at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva, in their first such conference since the December 2017 flop in Buenos Aires.

They added a fifth day of talks to try to break the deadlock — and prove the organisation can play a role in tackling big global challenges.

Some delegations have accused India of being intransigent on every topic under discussion at the WTO — where decisions can only pass with the agreement of all 164 members.

But Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal sounded upbeat as the talks ploughed on into the evening.

“India is convinced that this will turn out to be one of the most successful ministerials that the WTO has seen in a long time,” he told reporters.

“We are very confident that the progress made… and the positivity with which everybody is engaged truly is a matter of celebration for the world.

“I’m sure that that spirit will help us cross the hump.

“We have taken some solid decisions… subject to a few issues being sorted out.”

– EU targets ‘positive outcomes’ –

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis later told AFP negotiations were ongoing and “quite complicated” because there were “major issues to handle”.

“We are in a complicated geopolitical situation and also the views across different work streams are quite divergent,” he said.

“We need to address those divergences but I would say we’re working towards positive outcomes and hopefully we’ll be able to reach such positive outcomes.”

Ministers have been trying to secure deals on curbing harmful fishing subsidies; temporarily waiving Covid-19 vaccine patents; food security; agriculture; e-commerce; the WTO’s response to pandemics; and reform of the organisation itself.

Countries hit a brick wall late Wednesday trying to secure each separate deal on its own merits, so they spent the night horse-trading to try to keep them all afloat in some format.

Giant trays of sandwiches kept delegates going after they finished all the fruit juice in the building.

“They’re looking at a broad package: what can be achieved, trade-offs in different areas,” a Geneva trade official told reporters.

“We’re into the real bargaining.”

– Fisheries exemption –

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who took over in March 2021, has hinged her leadership on breathing new life into the sclerotic organisation.

The former foreign and finance minister of Nigeria is hoping to pull off a coup by finalising a long-sought deal on curbing harmful fishing subsidies.

Negotiations towards banning subsidies that encourage overfishing and threaten the sustainability of the planet’s fish stocks have been going on at the WTO for more than two decades.

Several sources close to the discussions said the draft agreement on the conference’s flagship issue has been heavily watered down.

India has been pushing for a 25-year exemption — far longer than many countries are comfortable with.

“India has always been a reluctant trading partner,” said Harsh V Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London university’s India Institute.

“India has been notorious when it comes to signing free trade agreements,” he told AFP.

– E-commerce wrangle –

On waiving Covid-19 vaccine patents, a source said the deal needed yet more time.

Ministers have also been arguing over whether to extend the moratorium on imposing customs duties on electronic transactions, in place since 1998.

But India and South Africa say it has a negative impact, with Pakistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka also sceptical.

WTO deputy director-general Anabel Gonzalez said there were “intense negotiations” going on in a packed room discussing e-commerce.

“It’s difficult, but I am hopeful,” she said.

The United States told an earlier meeting that the moratorium had supported the growth of digital commerce, which had provided an “economic lifeline” during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Geneva trade official.

rjm-burs/vog/imm

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