India roots for preserving S&DT

Participating in a discussion ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference, Shyamal Misra, Joint Secretary, Commerce & Industry Ministry, said that India will ensure that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) remains a relevant international body promoting orderly global trade. He added that the country will fight for preserving special and differential treatment (S&DT) for the developing nations at the forthcoming WTO ministerial conference at Geneva.

Image credit: WTO

Special and differential treatment provisions  give developing countries special rights and allow other members to treat them more favourably. These S&DT provisions include (i) longer time periods for implementing agreements and commitments; (ii) measures to increase trading opportunities for these countries; (iii) provisions requiring all WTO members to safeguard the trade interests of developing countries; (iv) support to help developing countries build the infrastructure to undertake WTO work, handle disputes, and implement technical standard; and (v) provisions related to least-developed country (LDC) members.

“S&DT is a fundamental principle that needs to be retained. Along with that we need to maintain the policy space that developing countries need… that India as a developing country needs,” commented Misra. He added that the WTO stands for an open rules based multilateral trading system and there are advantages from such a system.

The MC12 is scheduled to take place from November 30 to 3 December 3, 2021 in Geneva. Ministers from across the world will have the opportunity to evaluate the functioning of the multilateral trading system, to deliver prepared statements and to take action on the future work of the WTO. Kazakhstan was originally supposed to host MC12 in June 2020 but the conference was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.