The deal agreed by some 125 countries, or about
three-quarters of the WTO's members, aims to simplify red tape, improve the
investment environment and encourage foreign direct investment.
But according to WTO rules, any of its 164 members can block
a deal from being adopted by the body - a step which is necessary to ensure
that countries are in compliance.
"We underscore that given the lack of exclusive
consensus, this is not a matter for the...(meeting) agenda," a WTO
document showed.
The Indian and South African delegations did not immediately
comment publicly on the development.
Alan Yanovich, partner at Akin Gump Strauss, said the
"deplorable" development would hurt the world's poorest countries the
most.
"The notion that two members can prevent a broad group
of willing members from moving forward is absurd," he said.
A Western trade delegate at the talks called it "ironic
that India and South Africa stand in the way of something with such manifest
benefits for developing countries."
The initiative known as the Investment Facilitation for
Development (IFD) Agreement led by Chile and South Korea with China's strong
support, could lead to between $200-$800 billion of improvements in global
welfare, according to one study, opens new tab.
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"Members have expressed a readiness to discuss this
issue at the General Council in Geneva after (the ministerial conference)...
And I would want to encourage them to do so," said Kerrie Symmonds, the
facilitator for negotiations on developments at the meeting, and minister of
foreign affairs and foreign trade of Barbados.
Four-day WTO talks to set new global trade rules on a broad
range of topics including fishing and agriculture are due to wrap up on
Thursday, although delegates said that little progress has so far been made,
barring the formal accession of two new members to the body: East Timor and
Comoros.
The U.S. trade chief on Tuesday ruled out a deal on
reforming the WTO dispute settlement system, hobbled for four years due to U.S.
objections.
A paragraph on climate change is confined to a WTO annex of
the draft package of deals since members cannot agree.
"These are not small, easy to deal with issues, these
are some of the big things that either distort trade or stop nations from being
able to feed their own people," New Zealand's trade minister Todd McClay
told Reuters.
"They are hard and they are challenging."
Reuters