Reiterating its submission at the World Trade Organization's (WTO) 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, India urged the multilateral trade body to work on building global trust in its functions by implementing its long-standing mandates and ensuring compliance by reviving its now-defunct dispute resolution mechanism.
Highlighting India's aims to implement strong principles of fair play and justice, he pointed out that India's submissions at the WTO keep in mind the best interests of its farmers and fisherfolk while working towards meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), amelioration of poverty, good quality of life, and ease of living for Indians along with strong and speedy growth in the Amrit Kaal.
While he stressed the need for a permanent resolution to the long-standing mandate of public stockholding, he assured Indian farmers that India is batting for their interest at the WTO, and no attack will be allowed on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime.
Clarifying India's position opposing the inclusion of Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) as a part of the WTO mandate, he informed journalists that India has already submitted its objections in writing to the WTO Secretariat.
While he reminded that issues outside the mandate of the WTO shouldn't be brought in and should be looked after by the respective bodies, he added that problems like overfishing and depletion of fish stock in high seas were not caused by developing countries but were a result of certain countries' actions, who should be held accountable before any multilateral decisions are taken.
Urging developed countries to meet the world's expectations by working towards resolving their concerns, he said that as a responsible member of the Global South, India will take a sympathetic view of the requests from 22 more countries seeking WTO membership.
