Trade ministers from 21 WTO members called on Saturday for negotiators to instil a sense of urgency in their efforts to elaborate a work programme by July, which would need to set out a “credible and realistic path” towards concluding the long-running Doha Round talks.

Meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the officials’ comments appeared geared toward giving a political push to the negotiating process, which resumed back in Geneva last week.

“We should be aware of each other’s interests and constraints, focus on what is doable, consider new ways of engaging in order to move ahead more efficiently, and be prepared to review longstanding negotiating positions,” said Swiss Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann, who chaired the meeting, in his personal remarks summarising the discussions.

The 21 WTO members represented by either their ministers or deputy ministers included Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, and the US, according to a list published by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Geneva process kicks off

“What I have seen and heard in Davos and Geneva in recent days is encouraging. A spirit of urgency and realism begins to sink in,” WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said on social media site Twitter on Saturday following the Davos discussion.

“I've heard things in recent days that I've not heard in years. Ministers fully understand that we can't keep dusting off tired positions,” he continued.

WTO members had met in Geneva at the ambassadors’ level in an informal Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) just days ahead of the Davos ministers’ gathering, at the behest of the Director-General.

“We must maximise the time we have available to us before July – and maintain the momentum that we regained at the end of 2014,” the WTO chief said at last Wednesday’s TNC, calling for a detailed, substantive discussion on the various Doha Round areas.

Negotiators would need to discuss new trade rules on agriculture, manufactured goods, and services, as well as the other issues mandated when the talks were launched in 2001.

“Development and issues of interest to LDCs” would also need to be examined, the Director-General said, in a reference to the group of least-developed countries. “Today we are restarting on all of these issues. So be ready – and get involved.”

Following up on last week’s TNC and Saturday’s Davos meet, the Director-General has already convened successive small group consultations this week with sets of ambassadors – dubbed “Green Room” talks by delegates – and is planning additional meetings with the full WTO membership in a bid to promote transparency and inclusiveness in the process.

These so-called “Room W” meetings, named for the room at WTO headquarters in Geneva where they are held, are a throw-back to the days when members were preparing for the December 2013 ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, where ambassadors were brought together regularly by the Director-General for intense negotiations.

These meetings were widely seen by negotiators at the time as successful in part due to the attempt to ensure all countries were included in the discussion for the eventual Bali deal.

The next such meeting with all WTO members is scheduled for this Thursday, following “Green Room” discussions on Monday and Tuesday, and another meeting on Wednesday convened by the chair of the WTO agriculture negotiations, New Zealand ambassador John Adank.

Push for Nairobi deal?

Delegates told Bridges that some members – reportedly the EU and Mexico – had argued that the organisation should try to conclude the Bali deal by the time of the next WTO ministerial conference in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi this December.

Others were more cautious, suggesting that members still had a lot of work to do in determining which aspects of the previous draft deal might be acceptable to members, and how any aspects that needed modifying should be changed.

The US and some large developing countries continued to disagree over the extent to which a draft text tabled in 2008 should form the basis for further talks.

An opinion piece by US Trade Representative Michael Froman in Reuters last week argued that the Doha talks “haven’t kept pace with tectonic shifts in the global economy, most notably the rise of the emerging economies.”

It argues that India and China are now among “the top four users of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies in today’s world,” and called for the discussion at the WTO to keep in mind current conditions.

“If the debate over the next few weeks makes it apparent that others will not support an ambitious outcome – in opening markets to manufactured goods, services, as well as the full array of agricultural issues – the time has come to deal with that reality,” the US trade chief warned, while noting that an ambitious outcome is still Washington’s preferred option.

If support for an ambitious outcome is lacking, he said, then a “more focused and tailored agenda” could then be another way forward.

India reportedly retorted that it would not accept “differentiation” among developing countries in the talks, sources said.

Beyond the rhetoric

One developed country negotiator told Bridges that the US focus on emerging economies was “a great talking point - but without specifics, they may be using it as an excuse” for inaction.

Other negotiators also argued that instead of writing off the draft text as a whole, Washington now needed to provide specifics about where and how they thought the text should be changed.

“Restating well-known positions won’t help the chairs,” one developing country official observed.

Adank has previously warned WTO members against sparring fruitlessly over whether the latest draft should be the basis for further talks.

On Wednesday, he is expected to revisit questions on market access and domestic support that he originally posed delegates in July.

These are addressed to members who consider that some aspects or elements from past negotiations need to be reconsidered, and ask them to specify “what alternative approaches would you suggest?”

Similarly, negotiators pointed out that in reality the draft text on the table already “differentiates” between different groups of developing countries, by treating China differently from Chad, for example.

The draft deal also spells out different types of rules for “small, vulnerable economies,” least developed countries, recently-acceded members – as well as other categories such as developing countries with high tariff bindings. A number of country-specific exceptions are included, ranging from Moldova and Venezuela to the United States.

“Concrete” work programme

Regardless of the feasibility of concluding Doha by December, negotiators told Bridges that Azevêdo appeared to be determined to establish a “concrete” work programme by the July deadline, with something that negotiators would recognise as a “modalities” text – a draft document setting out formulas and figures for tariff and subsidy cuts that members could consider.

However, some speculated that new farm policies introduced in major trading powers since the 2008 text was drafted could affect the ability of some capitals to accept proposed concessions.

The US in particular passed a new version of the Farm Bill last year, which some experts say could lead to an increase in trade-distorting farm subsidies, especially in a low-price scenario.

“I think the truth is no one can really handle high ambition,” one delegate from an agricultural exporting country told Bridges.

MC10 approaching

Officials have touted 2015 as having the potential to be a pivotal year for the global trade body, with the WTO celebrating both its 20th anniversary and its 10th ministerial conference.

The upcoming ministerial in Nairobi, Kenya from 15-18 December will also mark the first time that the WTO’s highest level of meetings will be hosted by a Sub-Saharan African country.

While the potential for injecting new momentum into the long-stalled Doha talks will likely draw most of the attention in the coming months, ministers have also raised the timely ratification of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) as another element that would help ensure success at the Kenya ministerial, Switzerland’s Schneider-Ammann said on Saturday.

The US became the third member to deposit their instrument of acceptance for the TFA, with US Trade Representative Michael Froman giving the document to WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo in Davos. Singapore and Hong Kong had already submitted theirs.

Two-thirds of the global trade body’s 160 members must ratify TFA domestically in order for the deal to come into force for those members. While the 2013 Bali package had set July 2015 as the original deadline for this, that target was removed in November as part of an overall deal reached on implementing the Bali decisions on TFA and public food stockholding.