Talks went down to the wire Thursday as the World Trade Organization was set to wrap up its first ministerial-level meeting in more than four years, with no firm deal so far on issues like food security, the fight against overfishing in the seas, and efforts to broaden access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Western diplomats were pointing fingers at India's delegation in particular, accusing it of blocking agreement on issues like a waiver of WTO rules that protect patents behind COVID-19 vaccines and a bid to reduce government subsidies that help industrial-sized fishing operations that scoop up huge catches, while protecting the livelihoods of small-scale fishermen.
