Knock harder?

The WTO has ignored (or delayed ?) the request of the Biosafety Protocol to obtain observer status at the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phitosanitary Measurements and the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade since the creation of the Cartagena Protocol. While the WTO has observer status at BSP, the WTO has ignored that request of the BSP Secretariat to be treated the same way. The delegation from Ethiopia raised a fundamental question: “Are the Parties of the BSP lowering their position by constantly knocking at the door of the WTO for observer status?” In other words, is the WTO so distinguish and important that it can ignore the request of the Biosafety Protocol? Does trade rule over biosafety? It has been many years of knocking at the WTO’ door to raise issues of biosafety in the context of trade agreements.

The question continues unanswered, and nobody dares to say NO out loud. Trade and biosafety should go hand-in-hand, but that cannot happen if the WTO ignores the request of the BSP. Should we knock harder? NO, it is time for the WTO to give room for Parties to allow environmental concerns to be heard at the exclusive forums of the WTO . The WTO Secretariat has sent a video message to be played at the Biosafety Protocol High-Level Segment Meeting with a few comments… should we thank them for the honor? Is that cooperation? For now, the Parties will wait for WTO to press play….