Conclusion

Multilateral outcomes will always be the goal of WTO members. Such results are more efficient and more effective. Indeed, in many WTO spheres — subsidies, intellectual property, anti-dumping — plurilateral outcomes are not feasible. Moreover, partial deals brokered at the Geneva Ministerial Conference in June on fisheries subsidies, patent protections for vaccines, and food security underscore that multilateral successes are attainable even now.

Yet as successful as MC12 was, a great deal of work was left unfinished. The immense difficulty in achieving its results underscores the monumental challenge the organization faces in trying to jumpstart long paralyzed talks in the multilateral format.

In taking a pragmatic and results-oriented approach to their work, participants in the JSIs have breathed new life into WTO negotiations. The dynamism evident in the plurilateral groups stands in stark contrast to the flatlining progress in talks on industrial tariffs, intellectual property protections expansion, agriculture subsidies, and services market access.

The progress seen in the JSI has been a consistent bright spot for those who believe that for the WTO to remain relevant, it must have skin in the game on urgent global issues from climate change to women’s participation in trade. With two agreements already reached, on domestic regulation in services and MSMEs guidelines, and the prospect of an accord in investment facilitation, there is every reason to believe that plurilateral work in the WTO will accelerate and expand.

For the WTO to flourish in the multi-crisis environment of today it needs every tool at its disposal. Plurilaterals were a creative response by like-minded WTO member subsets to the deepening deadlock in negotiations in Geneva. So far at least, these initiatives have lit a way forward and they hold the promise of significant results in the future.