PIB
India
has made a strong pitch for protecting the interests of the developing
and under-developed countries at the WTO.
Plain speaking, Union Minister
of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, representing India at the
12thMinisterial Conference of the WTO in Geneva, raised
concerns about the “skewed” WTO reforms proposal, imperative need to
retain the Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) provisions for
the developing world, global inequities in Covid vaccination and Public
Stockholding of foodgrains.
Speaking
on the ‘Challenges confronting theMinisterial Session’ yesterday, Shri
Goyal said the current proposals for WTO Reform couldfundamentally
change its institutional architecture,skewing the system against the
interests of developingcountries.
“We need to move ahead preserving the
coreprinciples of consensus and ensuring S&DT, withpeople and
development being at the core of WTO’s future agenda,” said Shri Goyal.
“Friends,
those who question the need for S&DTprovisions are aware that the
per capita GDP of thedeveloped countries is 20 to 50 times that of
thedeveloping countries. Even India is at the lower end ofthe per capita
GDP supporting 1.4 billion people. Ibelieve, the developing world
aspires to work for abetter future. Is it humane, fair or even
equitablethat the developing world takes the same obligationsas the
developed nations?,” he added.
Goyal said the COVID Pandemic has exposed the inability of theworld to
promptly respond to any crisis, whether onfood security or health,
economic well being or opensupply chains.
“When
the world was desperately lookingfor relief, the WTO was found wanting.
As an example,vaccine inequity persists even two years after COVID.When
people in LDCs and several developingcountries are yet to be
vaccinated, there are somecountries who have already administered the 3rdor 4thdose,”
he said, adding,“This is a collective failure of global
governance& we need to introspect. Those responsible need
toseriously reflect deep within their hearts, it will help uscraft a
more equitable, fair and prosperous future forevery citizen of the world
and finally achieve theSustainable Development Goals we had all
collectivelyagreed upon.”
To
rebuild trust and credibility, Shri Goyal said, we must first
addressmandated issues, like the Permanent Solution toPublic
Stockholding agreed nearly a decade ago.
“The
current global food crisis is a reminder to us thatwe act now! Can we
risk the lives of millions of peopledependent on food stocks maintained
for the poor andvulnerable?,” Shri Goyal asked.
“During
the pandemic, India alonedistributed 100 million tonnes of foodgrain
free ofcharge to 800 million Indians at a cost of nearly US$50billion.
This was over and above the foodgraindistributed as a part of our
National Food SecurityProgramme thus ensuring that nobody ever slept
hungry,” he said.
Goyal argued that while negotiating the Fisheries Subsidies, thelivelihood of traditional fishermen cannot becompromised.
“We
cannot institutionalize the privilegesof a few countries and take away
the right to progressfor those who are working for the
vulnerablemarginalized sections of society. Particularly for
thosecountries, who are not engaged in harmful deep seafishing, we need
to have different views. Otherwise, wemay have a similar situation like
the Agreement onAgriculture, where inequities & asymmetries
persist,causing several countries to still depend on food aid,” he said.
On
climate issues, Shri Goyal proposed we need to
adoptenvironmentally-conscious lifestyles, more sustainablelifestyles,
based on 3Ps of “Pro Planet People”.
“The
WTO needs to rebuild trust. It is time todemonstrate goodness, concern
for people, moresensitivity to the poor & vulnerable sections of
societyin the spirit of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, which webelieve in
India as “The World is one Family”,” he said.