India had organised the informal gathering last year in the wake of talks
collapsing at the Buenos Aires ministerial conference in December 2017.
India has proposed to host an informal gathering of ministers of the
members of World Trade Organization (WTO) in May to discuss the interests
of least developed countries and developing countries in global trade rules
amid the US accusing emerging economies of benefitting from exemptions
meant for poor nations.
India, which hosted a similar meeting last year, has already teamed up with
China, South Africa and Venezuela to counter the US allegations and
highlighted the glaring asymmetries through which the US has benefited.
“At last year’s mini ministerial, we had portrayed our right to market access
globally. We have proposed to organise another ministerial in Delhi in May
to ensure to take this idea forward,” said commerce and industry minister
Suresh Prabhu at the CII- EXIM Bank Conclave on India Africa Project
Partnership.
India had organised the informal gathering last year in the wake of talks
collapsing at the Buenos Aires ministerial conference in December 2017. This
year’s mini-ministerial meeting comes as developing countries fight to
safeguard their eligibility to get Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT)
at the WTO.
WTO allows special provisions for developing countries called S&DT, such
as longer time periods to implement agreements and commitments,
measures to increase trading opportunities, provisions to safeguard their
trade interests and support to build capacity to handle disputes and
implement technical standards.
Emphasising that certain countries have “immensely benefited” from Africa
and India opening up their markets to global commerce, Prabhu said: “We
allowed them to use our populations as markets. Now when we can benefit
from it, some countries are raising issues on the importance of global trade.”
The mini ministerial meet is being planned even as New Delhi is in the
process of finalising a proposal to reform the multilateral trade watchdog
that is rendered unproductive with the US blocking the appointment of
judges for more than two years.
New Delhi has sought amendment of laws on unilateral action by members
on trade issues and resolution of the WTO’s dispute settlement system. The
proposal also seeks to revive talks to strengthen global norms to protect
traditional knowledge from reckless patenting by corporates through
commercial exploitation of natural products by obtaining patents without
fairly compensating the communities from which these originate -- an
activity that has harmed India and Africa equally.
Source: The Economic Times, India Wednesday, 20 March 2019