More than 120 countries on 25 February circulated the Joint Ministerial Declaration on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, setting the stage for a tense battle over the entry of the IFD Agreement into the WTO on procedural and systemic grounds, said people familiar with the development.
India and South Africa have consistently blocked the entry of the IFD agreement as a plurilateral agreement on both procedural and systemic grounds.
The United States, though not a party to the Joint Ministerial Declaration on IFD, appears to be ready to support the IFD agreement without blocking it, said people familiar with the development.
At a meeting of the “parties” to the IFD agreement, which has been overwhelmingly propelled by China since 2017, the Joint Ministerial Declaration was gaveled, amidst the brief presence of the WTO’s Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the chair of MC13, said people familiar with the development.
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