Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, Chair of the Ninth Ministerial Conference, and the three Vice Chairs, in a joint statement, urged 'all WTO members to come together over the next few days to make the necessary breakthroughs, working closely with WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo.'
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) is advocating for the termination of the moratorium on customs duties for electronically transmitted digital products, arguing that it hinders self-reliance, causes revenue losses, and restricts India's ability to tax emerging technologies like AI.
India on Wednesday blocked an attempt by a group of WTO countries led by China to push an investment facilitation pact in the agenda of the ministerial conference here, a move which may ensure that the proposal is unlikely to be part of the final outcome document, an official said. The 13th Ministerial Conference (MC-13) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is underway. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, along with his team, is here for the meeting, which started on February 26.
Nepal on Friday became the 147th member of the World Trade Organisation with the protocol of accession coming into force.
India has not changed its position on agriculture and industry at the World Trade Organisation negotiations on freeing global trade to protect the interests of its farmers and small enterprises, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said.
On the eve of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, India on Monday asserted it will not be rushed into a global trade deal that displaces millions of its poor farmers.
Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal is set to attend a two-day meeting from October 23 at the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, that would focus on finding solutions and giving the 'necessary political push' for at least some crucial global trade issues. Next week's meeting comes ahead of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference (MC13), scheduled in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. It will see participation of senior government officials from all WTO member nations.
The Indonesian Minister's comments assume significance as she is also a candidate for the position of Director General, World Trade Organisation.
Under the TFA, a proposal of developed countries, WTO members are negotiating ways to facilitate trade, simplify and harmonise customs rules and reduce transactions cost. Although India is willing to negotiate on TFA, it has raised few concerns over the proposed agreement.
India and other developing nations, on the other hand, want the peace clause until a permanent solution is found on the matter for smooth implementation of the food security programme.
Refusing to budge from its tough stand on food security issues, India pressed for a fair and balanced outcome of the WTO ministerial meeting in Bali.
The fate of the ministerial conference was sealed after assistant US trade representative Sharon Bomer Lauritsen said permanent solution to the food stockholding issue was not acceptable to America.
The Cabinet on Thursday approved the stand taken by India at the recently concluded WTO meeting in Bali which endorsed New Delhi's point of view with regard to food security plan and trade facilitation pact.
The 10th ministerial conference, will be held at Nairobi, Kenya.
If the WTO talks in Bali fail, it will adversely impact India.
The decision preceded long hours of tense negotiations and last minute hiccups from Argentina and Pakistan
Hailing the agreement reached between India and the US aimed at resolving the stalemate over the WTO trade facilitation pact, Australia on Friday said the gains from the deal once it is sealed are "significant" and the developing nations would be its Hailing the agreement reached between India and the US aimed at resolving the stalemate over the WTO trade facilitation pact, Australia on Friday said the gains from the deal once it is sealed are "significant" and the developing nations would be its biggest beneficiaries.biggest beneficiaries.
WTO's new director has said that the issue needs to be addressed in a positive manner.
India believes rich nations should be away from farm subsidies.
According to the final draft of the negotiating text circulated by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo among trade ministers of the 159 member countries on Wednesday night, on public stockholding for food security purposes, a developing country like India can provide subsidies for farm support even if those exceed the permissible 10 per cent cap.
Critics have even suggested that India is doing this because it is not prepared to take on the requirements of TFA, with a relatively weak trade infrastructure.
As hard bargains continue for the next four days at the picturesque tourist resort of Indonesia, the ministers., including from the influential developed countries will try and reach agreements on providing windows to the developing nations for their food security programmes and a pact to free the global trade from the procedural hassles at the customs.
Protectionist and exclusionary FTAs weaken multilateralism.
The proposals will be reviewed by the World Trade Organization's General Council.
New Delhi to push for services trade facilitation & food stockpiling.
India has expressed disappointment over the first draft text for the forthcoming World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong
ndia has said it is ready to sign the global trade deal as early as next month if other WTO members agree to its demand for concessions on food subsidies.
India on Wednesday said that developed and developing countries should now 'close their differences' and move forward after the Cancun debacle but felt more 'transparency' in decision-making process was needed at the WTO to help towards this end.
India did not yield any major ground on trade facilitation while it managed to successfully push its stand on food security issues through the WTO meeting in Bali, a top official said.
The November 26 meeting, the first of its kind, will also take up trade facilitation agreement.
India and the US will co-chair a 14-member special group on services negotiations, a move aimed at giving a boost to World Trade Organisation talks in services ahead of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December.
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Trade ministers and diplomats from around 130 countries are participating in the four-day meeting that started on Tuesday.
The BRICS nations on Friday underlined the need for using local currencies in international trade and financial transactions besides committing themselves to supporting rule-based open and transparent global trade. A joint statement issued at the end of the meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, also pressed for a robust Global Financial Safety Net with a quota-based and adequately resourced International Monetary Fund (IMF) at its centre. It further said the process of IMF governance reform under the 16th General Review of Quotas, including a new quota formula as a guide, should be completed by December 15, 2023.
The government will convene a meeting of political parties prior to the WTO ministerial in Cancun to elicit their views on issues, especially agriculture subsidy, to be discussed at the conference, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley will lead the Indian delegation to the World Trade Organisation mini- ministerial at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Cairo, beginning June 20.\n\n\n\n
The differences between the rich and developing nations have always been at the core of the World Trade Organisation, set up in 1995 to facilitate greater trade flows across the world, and it came as a major breakthrough when the US and India reached a deal over food security issues in 2014.
India's agriculture ministry has identified a list of around 80 special products that should get tariff treatment as part of the World Trade Organisation's current Doha Round negotiations.
The government on Monday said the progress in majority of the issues covered by the Doha Work Programme has been uneven
The Doha negotiations has been virtually stalled since July 2008.
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