By Laura Kuhl, PhD candidate, The Fletcher School
Over the past several days, we have been watching the negotiators as they attempt to agree to a text. The negotiators had until Monday evening to conclude their negotiations, and then Brazil compiled a final version of the text, which was released Tuesday morning, before the negotiations moved from the technical negotiators to the Heads of State level.
Here, I report some observations from the last day of technical negotiations before the text was closed:
Frustration is building as the negotiators close in on the last hours before the text is closed tonight by the Brazilian Presidency. We are watching the negotiations for the Means of Implementation section of the text, considered the most critical component of the text because it addresses financing and implementation of everything agreed to in the rest of the document.
The majority of the delegates are in one giant huddle, trying to come to agreement on technology transfer, one of the most contentious aspects of the text. This morning, the Brazilian Presidency released a revised version of the negotiating text, and then delegates broke out for small group meetings to discuss the text. One of the major additions was language from TRIPS, article 7, dealing with intellectual property rights. This issue is now a major hold up in the negotiations.
Delivering the text to the delegates is a bit of a fiasco. First, the copies took a long time to arrive, and the Brazilians had to read out the changes to the text paragraph by paragraph before delivering any text to the delegates. When it did arrive, it had not been collated, and so a long process ensued before the delegates received their copies. The session than broke until 4pm so delegates could negotiate in small groups informally.
It is now 5pm, and the Brazilians have reentered the room. The huddle has gotten more and more heated, and tension in the room is visibly rising. Very little deference is being shown to the Chair- he gave them five minutes before reconvening, but they waved him away and said 15. As we watch from across the room, the main argument appears to be between the G77 and the US. We overheard the US angrily exclaim, “IP is not protected. IP is fizzling like a wild animal through the forest.” Sadly we could not hear the Indian reply.
We now have delegates who have climbed over the tables to join the huddle from the other side. No sign that the huddle plans to break up in the near future. At least there are signs that text is being drafted.
At 5:45 the huddle finally broke and Brazil brought the negotiations to order. The EU began the discussions by asking for more time, particularly in a space with access to a computer. For the G77, mechanisms for finance and technology transfer are the crux of the matter. They say they need financing for sustainable development that is new and additional, although they understand that this needs to be all types of financing (a concession from their previous demands specifically for public financing). In addition to debates about the “voluntary” nature of technology transfer, the other main topic was trade and agricultural subsidies.
One of the challenges is that Brazil has attempted to make references to previous documents, but many feel that the specific lines cannot be taken out of the context of the entire documents, and that including specific language out of context may be more problematic.
Little room for agreement appeared possible, and by 7pm the Presidency concluded the negotiations. It was now up to Brazil to finalize the text in a way that addressed as many interests as possible!
The Brazilian Presidency collates copies of the draft text as delegates anxiously wait to see the text
Delegates engage in informal negotiations in a huge huddle as they struggle to reach agreement.
Jumbos in Rio 