WTO reform should not undermine its basic principles, says Piyush Goyal

India said on Sunday that the WTO’s reform process should not dilute the basic principles of providing special and differential treatment to developing countries as well as consensus-based decision making.

Speaking at a meeting of G20 trade ministers in Japan, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that in the reform process of the WTO, concerns of all member countries must be accommodated.

“India believes that the reform process should not undermine the WTO’s fundamental principles, namely, ‘Special and Differential Treatment’ (S&DT), consensus-based decision making and the objective of development,” he said.

Goyal further said the reform process should begin with reviving the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO.

The statement assumes significance as the US has called for reforming the WTO. It wants the formulation of some guidelines that would prevent countries with high economic growth from taking the benefits of S&DT, which is meant for developing nations.

Sovereign equality

“The dispute settlement mechanism, which is the mainstay of the WTO, underscores the principle of sovereign equality of all nations, which we are all committed to uphold,” Goyal said.

He added that the current proposals on WTO reform do not take into consideration the challenges and aspirations of developing countries.

The minister also said the joint initiatives that have been formed outside the WTO with no mandate set an unhealthy trend of influencing rule-making within the organisation.

“I am suggesting we must collectively look at mainstreaming these discussions in the WTO after informal consultations. The G20 should commit to supporting only WTO-consistent rules and avoid creating insurmountable goals. They should remain consistent with WTO rules and not go beyond till such boundaries are re-negotiated and revised,” he said.

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