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The 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference kicked off in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a focus on the smooth transition for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as they graduate. The LDCs, represented by the WTO’s LDG Group, are voicing their shared concerns, with 15 out of 45 countries currently navigating the graduation process.

Leading the Nepali delegation is Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Ramesh Rijal. 

During the four-day conference, WTO members will be seeking to secure “deliverables” during their four-day meeting in areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture, WTO reform, development, e-commerce, services and investment facilitation. Also on the ministers’ agenda will be how to make progress in their discussions on gender and the environment.

In his welcoming speech to the Conference,  Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and MC13 Chair, stressed the historically important role the WTO has played to provide “stability, transparency and predictability for international trade,” contributing to “raising living standards, improving employment opportunities and enabling the expansion of trade in goods and services” around the world.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged members to show leadership, flexibility and compromise to deliver important outcomes at MC13 for people and the planet. “Success is changing the tone about the WTO, both outside and within it. We will always have our naysayers and detractors but there is no doubt that members have shown that we can deliver when members roll up their sleeves and muster the requisite political will. During the last several weeks, the atmosphere in our preparatory discussions in Geneva has been more constructive and conducive than it was in the run-up to MC12,” she said.

In Oct 2023, WTO members reached a significant milestone with the adoption of a General Council decision on the market access element of the LDC’s proposal. This decision encourages preference-granting members to provide a smooth and sustainable period for the withdrawal of duty-free market access opportunities once countries graduate from LDC status.

Nepal qualified to graduate from the LDC category in 2021 and it is set to graduate in 2026. But the country still faces numerous challenges. The issue of LDC graduation remains a key foreign policy agenda item, with Nepal urging larger countries to continue providing trade privileges for a few years post-graduation. In turn, these larger countries are seeking Nepal’s LDC graduation strategy as soon as possible. 

While graduation is a significant development achievement, it also presents challenges, particularly the loss of preferential access to other countries’ markets, which could hinder integration into the global economy. Currently, LDCs receive special treatment from the international community, particularly in trade and development cooperation, known as international support measures.

That is why, according to the WTO secretariat, LDC Group has been discussing with other WTO members the issue of special and differential treatment in the sub-committee on LDC, with the aim of potentially reaching consensus at the ongoing conference. For an LDC like Nepal, special measures are necessary to prevent any loss of economic growth and maintain a current space of development.

Over the past four years, the WTO’s LDC Group has been discussing a smooth transition mechanism to extend LDC-specific preferences and provisions in WTO agreements after graduation. Discussions are also underway in the WTO sub-committee on LDCs’ other requests relating to special and differential treatments.

A WTO member graduates from LDC status when it meets certain socio-economic thresholds set by the United Nations, with the decision made by UN members based on the recommendation of the Committee for Development Policy. Out of the 15 LDCs on the path towards graduation, 10  (Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Senegal, Solomon Islands and Zambia) are WTO members. Three (Comoros, Sao Tomé and Principe, and Timor-Leste) are in the process of negotiating their WTO accession. Ministers formally approved the WTO membership terms of Comoros and Timor- Leste at a special ceremony held at the 13th WTO ministerial conference.The other two graduating LDCs are Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Meanwhile, ministers representing 123 WTO members issued a joint declaration marking the finalization of the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), which is expected to contribute to LDC graduation. Vice-Minister of Trade of Chile Claudia Sanhueza highlighted that the agreement demonstrates the WTO’s ability to deliver for global trade and development and address current challenges.  “Once implemented, the IFD agreement is expected to foster significant economic growth in developing and LDC members and extend its benefits to non-participants,” she said. 

LDC countries like Nepal are in dire need of more sustainable investment flows.

Similarly, small economies integration into the international trading system is another major issue for the LDC countries. The draft decision calls for WTO members to address the issue of integrating small economies into the multilateral trading system by looking into issues such as the impact of non-tariff measures on trade costs, the link between trade policies and climate change adaptation, global supply chains, e-commerce and digital ecosystem. The decision on small economies was adopted by the trade ministers at the12th ministerial conference held in Geneva in 2022. 

The WTO meeting which has 166 members is taking place at a time when geopolitical tension is rising, ongoing trade war between US and China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing trade restrictions across the globe. According to Reuters, the WTO faces a large number of difficult issues  among its 166 members, including reforming its hobbled dispute settlement system, cutting fishing subsidies, resolving disagreements over agriculture subsidies and deciding whether to extend a 25-year-old ban on duties on electronic commerce data transmissions.

Key agendas:

Accessions

Agriculture

Development

E- commerce

Environment

Fisheries subsidies

Investment Facilitation

Ip/ Tripes

Wto reform

LDC graduation

Gurcharan Das’ latest book, a memoir entitled ‘Another Sort of Freedom’ is a compilation of reflections on the author’s own life events, from early childhood till his septuagenarian days. In order to write about his early childhood, he utilizes the diary of his mother. From his mother’s diary, he concludes that he was a difficult child.

The initial part of the book recollects his childhood as a troublemaker, how partition destroyed the lives of Muslim and Hindu people, divided the communities, and created hatred for one another. The partition’s hangover is still vivid to the author as he along with his family had to leave Punjab without any preparations, just with clothes, a few essentials and importantly their own physical bodies. Gurcharan recalls the memory of his junior school days frequently throughout the book, especially that of the stealing of a rich kid’s pencil box and handing it over to a poor Muslim friend Ayan without anybody knowing about it. Later, the blame rests upon Ayan who is punished and the author, despite his interest to save Ayan, keeps silent and becomes a mere spectator. The author regrets this throughout his life for not speaking up the truth and saving his friend.

The author’s life seems to be interesting for readers who find him traveling to many countries frequently. Initially, he gets the opportunity to study high school in the US because his father is a government engineer. Later, the author secures enrollment in Harvard University for an honors degree in philosophy. Instead of taking the path of Doctor of Philosophy, he decides to try his luck in business, starting his career as a sales manager. The journey of his life is written in a linear and vivid fashion. He follows his heart and despite many hurdles in his career, he continues to progress ahead and becomes a manager at a young age. There are many stories of his career, something mid-career professionals can get inspired from.

There are a few connections with Nepal in the book. Donald J, the roommate of the author, who happens to be an avid reader of Nietzsche, leaves a copy of ‘Thus Spake Zarathushra’ to the author when he leaves for a trek to Nepal. Gurcharan falls in love with Nepali woman Bunu whom he encounters at a theater. There are some cultural differences between Nepali and Indian traditions which the author narrates as they were. Though there were mishaps in the wedding ceremony, the author manages to fix them right. The author’s meetings with different people in his life gives him lessons about life to live lightly. The core message Gurcharan preaches is, “Take your work seriously but do not take yourself seriously.” The words like ‘lightness’ and ‘lightly’ are repeated in many instances to emphasize that our being should be light. One should not take oneself too seriously and perhaps due to the same reason, the author follows the heart and takes an early retirement after reaching the top of his corporate career.

The author also shares life incidents when he seems to be pressured by the corporate rat race. Without any remorse, he shares how he had started to speak to himself alone and how he thought depression was taking his life. In such difficult phases, he sought the reference of the ‘Upanishad’ and drew analogy. He says that man’s search for meaning is due to the second Upanishadic bird that is the observer of the first bird, our regular physical body that follows the daily routine. That same second Upanishadic bird questioned the dull routine of the clock following man, without any natural joy. Following the same bird, Gurcharan takes an early retirement from Procter & Gamble as a vice-president in order to become a full-time writer. Though the writing job was a Sisyphean task to him, similar to the business career he was in, he found more freedom and satisfaction in the writing job, which he used to do as a weekend writer, just after graduating from Harvard and joining the business world.

The book is profound and philosophical, allowing readers to draw many comparisons and contrasts between the author and oneself, inspires us to live lightly and follow our natural instincts. Personally, reading ‘Another Sort of Freedom’ took me to the memory lane of reading the ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’.

Autobiography 

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/199623354 

Another Sort of Freedom

Gurcharan Das

Year: 2023

Publisher: Penguin Allen Lane

Pages: 296

Nirmal Kumar Upreti, an advocate and social worker with almost 20 years of experience, believes what Nepal needs right now is more awareness. Through his organization, Forum for Nation Building (FNB), he educates people in remote areas about legal awareness, and legal literacy, and provides free legal counseling to marginalized and vulnerable groups.

Upreti, 40, is doing some impressive work at FNB. He’s taking a synergic approach to addressing issues like human rights, access to justice, foreign employment, sustainable development, migration, and youth concerns. Apart from all that, FNB does a lot of different things too, from quick disaster rescue to legal awareness programs and leading advocacies for good causes. 

Since 2014, his organization has been at the forefront of advocating a ban on nuclear weapons in Nepal, which is indeed a groundbreaking initiative for the country. They’re also associated with Nobel Peace Prize-winning International organizations like ‘International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ (ICAN). Under Upreti’s leadership, FNB has been acknowledged with two significant nominations. They were finalists in the 2017 Justice Prize Competition and also won the 2018 Public Interest Litigation Network (PILnet) Pro Bono Local Impact Award for their voluntary legal awareness work.

Over the past ten years, they’ve personally helped over 48,000 people and reached nearly 26 remote areas in Nepal. Despite Nepal making progress, Upreti still believes not everyone is getting the information they need. That is why he has been to those places, to lend a hand and directly share necessary information. “I like to help people in any way I can. It makes me happy and brightens my day,” he says.

Upreti is also a founder president and currently the patron of the Nepalese Law Students Association (NeLSA), where law students and professionals have come together to start the Community Mobile Legal Clinic Aid project in Nepal. The project aims to assist people in understanding the law better and getting the justice they deserve.

Upreti believes lawyers are ‘social engineers’ and can bring about change and tweak society. 

He hopes students will step up to fulfill their roles in their communities too. The project helps students become socially responsible legal professionals and encourages them to help those in need of legal aid. The project received the UNDP Success Story Award in 2010. But that’s not all. The advocate has been teaming up with the Nepal Bar Association, Bar Council, and various law colleges to get more students involved in the project.

“Through the project, I want to focus on offering free legal services to people in remote places of Nepal,” says Upreti, talking about their work during the earthquake and COVID. “We were quick to respond to disasters and provide supplies, give counseling, and legal aid.” What’s more, international organizations like Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and the Ontario Legal Clinic, in Canada, are now adopting their pioneering project approach. “This has helped us connect with larger donor agencies,” he says.

Upreti talks about the challenges faced by Nepali migrant workers, emphasizing the missed opportunities and their lack of access to essential services. Concerns over this have prompted him to speak out on the matter, focusing on how fundamental rights are being violated. He also collaborates with other networks to try to provide legal support to migrant workers.

He is also on the board of the National Network for Safe Migration (NNSM), which is the umbrella body for all the organizations responsible for migration-related issues. He says his three-year experience working in the Foreign Employment Board under the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security has provided him insight into the matter. During his time there, he helped rescue injured and scammed workers from various countries.

His efforts in advocating for youth policy in 2010 are noteworthy. Before then, youth matters were only dealt with by a small section under the Ministry of Education. Upreti wasn’t happy with how things were so he, along with some youth groups, took out protests and presented a memorandum, asking for a separate policy and ministry for youth. Their actions led to the formulation of youth policy laws and even a new ministry, which also contributed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals at that time.

He’s been speaking up against age discrimination as he believes it’s wrong for people to be judged by their age. “It goes against fundamental rights because capabilities and needs can’t be determined solely by age,” he says. He finds it unfair that members of the national assembly and other higher government posts must be at least 35 years old. This, he says, is a huge disadvantage for Nepal’s youth population. 

Apart from that, he’s also actively involved in sustainable development initiatives including gender-responsive programs, promoting women’s participation, engaging in policy discussions, creating laws, and gathering community feedback.

Upreti believes Nepal is committed to universal human rights standards but struggles to implement them fully. He says just having laws in place isn’t enough. We need clear procedures and policies while monitoring inclusivity. He pledges to do his part in enhancing social welfare through mobile clinics, policy dialogues, and legal initiatives.

Over the past two decades, the world has made remarkable progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB). However, TB is still a serious challenge from a global health and development perspective.  According to WHO, more than 10m people continue to fall ill with TB every year. More importantly, a heavy burden of TB is on poor, vulnerable and socially marginalized populations.

In this context, the strategic interventions primarily focus on a unified response to end all the sufferings by addressing social determinants of TB. However, in many low-income countries, there are still inadequate policies and strategies to support implementation of universal health coverage, social protection, and regulatory frameworks to prevent and end TB.

Nepal has set the goal to end TB by 2035. The first-ever prevalence survey in 2018-19 shows that TB incidence and prevalence in Nepal are 245 and 416 per 100,000 people, respectively with a majority of TB patients from productive age groups. Interestingly, the prevalence among men is more than in women. Considering this reality, Nepal’s strategic plan to end TB (2020/21-2025/26) offers fresh hopes to many TB patients in terms of an easy access to timely diagnosis, treatment, prevention and care.  

An ambitious plan

By 2025, the ambitious strategy aims to significantly increase treatment coverage, success rate, uptake of new diagnostics and new drugs, and reduce catastrophic costs. The strategic priorities primarily include integrated patient-centered care, treatment and prevention, multi-sector engagement, and research for creating synergies for a unified response. Putting patients at the heart of the delivery, the strategy calls for consistent actions to ensure early detection, treatment and prevention for all TB patients.

A recent review of the strategic plan to end TB suggests that there are significant gaps in strengthening prevention and treatment services, community engagement, multi-sectoral coordination and accountability in the federal context. While social protection services for improved service delivery are critically needed, the rollout of new tools and innovative digital technologies are crucial for an effective TB response. This will help ensure treatment for all people with TB, including the drug-resistant strain.

A priority agenda

Engaging the private sector is a priority agenda in TB response. However, there are limited interventions to strengthen implementation of the public-private partnership strategies at all levels. Experiences from Bangladesh, India and Myanmar suggest that non-governmental organizations can play a critical role in providing essential TB services at the community level.

Effective implementation of the strategic plan is crucial at the local level. Because of inadequately-trained human resources for TB services, it is a challenging task for local governments to provide quality TB services. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to ensure supportive supervision, periodic review, monitoring and evaluation, and timely feedback mechanism for actions at the local level.   

Despite persistent challenges of ensuring human and financial resources, Nepal has implemented a TB-free initiative at the local level for enhancing political leadership and ownership in TB response. The scaling up of the TB-free initiative is critical to strengthen local health policies and harness the power of multi-sectoral engagement for timely notification, diagnosis, prevention, treatment and care.

Inadequate efforts

However, existing efforts are inadequate to enhance the capacity of local governments in participatory and inclusive planning of a TB-free initiative. More focus is needed in the area of ensuring meaningful engagement of TB patients so that their representation, voiced experiences, and choices of prevention, treatment and care are realistically addressed at all levels. While TB is heavily influenced by socio-cultural, economic and health risk-related factors such as undernutrition, diabetes, HIV infection, and smoking, multi-sector actions are needed to combat the epidemic.   

More importantly, there are high-level global and regional events that have significantly reaffirmed commitments toward ending TB. In Sept 2023, the political declarations adopted at the UN High-level Meeting on TB include commitments toward universal access to TB services in both high and low-burden countries, with time-bound targets of reaching, with health services, at least 90 percent of people with or at risk of TB between 2023 and 2027. Moreover, there is a critical need to increase investments, and fast-track the development and availability of new tools to prevent, diagnose and provide treatment for TB.  

Undoubtedly, TB is largely a social disease that poses significant development challenges. There are growing needs to reduce human suffering and the socio-economic burden of TB by providing mental health and social protection services at the community level. Toward this end, anthropology of infectious diseases is instrumental in understanding interaction among socio-cultural, economic, political and biological variables in prevention and treatment of TB.

In this context, it is evident that TB is disproportionately common among disadvantaged populations. From an anthropological perspective, the relationship between poor health and poverty is a consequence of biosocial and biocultural factors. Still, stigma and discrimination associated with TB is another challenge to provide necessary care and support in the families. Therefore, apart from TB prevalence surveys, it is equally important to better understand people’s indigenous knowledge, attitude and health–seeking behavior to prevent and provide treatment for TB in the communities.

Urgent action necessary

To sum up, urgent actions are necessary to ensure universal access to TB prevention, treatment and care at all levels. The strategic priorities must focus on multisectoral actions to address wider determinants of the TB epidemic and effective management of the co-morbidities. In addition, there is an emerging need to strengthen health systems for ensuring essential TB services during disasters and pandemics such as Covid-19. 

The author is a health policy analyst