om: Unfair to link WTO reforms to S&DT, according to Piyush Goyal

Trade and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday that linking World Trade Organization reforms to special and differential treatment (S&D), given to poor and developing countries, was “unfair” and that the business organization needed to re-evaluate the way it did business. . At an event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, he also said that developed countries are doing some soul-searching on what they have done.

“I think it’s so unfair! I can understand a discussion about which countries should be considered developing and which should now be considered developed, I think the world should be open to a discussion about this,” he said. Goyal said, while interacting in a session on “Improving the Global Footprint: India’s Great Opportunity” at the CII-2021 Global Economic Policy Summit.

His statement precedes the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), the highest decision-making body of the WTO, from November 30 to December 3 in Geneva.

“But deprive countries of some differential treatment in their trade practices when they are at income levels of $ 600 to $ 3,000 per capita and put them on the same benchmark as a country that earns $ 60,000 or $ 80. 000 dollars per capita is extremely unfair, “said Goyal, stressing that the developed world should address their priorities.

He also said that the world today also needs to reassess whether some countries are genuinely following global multilateral rules in a transparent and fair manner.

SDT allows developing countries and poor (less developed) countries to enjoy certain benefits, including taking longer time to implement binding agreements and commitments, and measures to increase trade opportunities for them.

Any member of the WTO can designate itself as a developing country and benefit from these advantages.

The United States proposed that this self-declaration set the WTO on the path to negotiation failure and institutional irrelevance.

India, however, argued that the issue must be negotiated comprehensively in the WTO and that a consensus-based decision must be taken on the SDT.