WTO Closing Session Postponed Again, Now 1400GST 1 Mar

Wires reporting that the closing session of the Word Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi has been postponed again, with talks set to go into 'overtime'. The scheduled announcement of a final agreement was due to come at midnight local time (2000GMT), but this already-delayed timeline has been pushed back further to 1400GST (0500ET, 1000GMT, 1100CET) to allow for further discussions.

• Reuters: "The biennial conference is seeking deals on ending fishing subsidies and extending a moratorium on digital trade tariffs - a move that India and South Africa oppose....India’s trade minister said he was “sad” some countries were still obstructing significant outcomes. He gave little sign New Delhi would drop its opposition to extending a waiver on digital tariffs."
• One of the major issues remains reform to the Appellate Body, the WTO's dispute resolution mechanism that has been out of service for years due to the US' objections to judge appointments. US Trade Rep Katherine Tai statedearlier in the week that "...convergence is happening” on various areas of dispute settlement reform. But “there is another set of issues that are going to be harder and that are going to take longer to address, including what to do with the appeals mechanism and how to have a mechanism for review that doesn’t repeat the problems of the appellate body that came before it,” she said."