WTO Meet

India will flag its concerns on issues pertaining to agriculture, fisheries agreement, China-led proposal on investment facilitation and dysfunctional appellate body of the WTO during an informal meeting of about 25 trade ministers in Paris on June 3, an official said. The mini-ministerial meeting will be held on the margins of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will participate in this meeting. He is on a five-day visit to France and Italy from June 1. The official said that India will raise its concerns on all key issues of the WTO including agriculture (finding permanent solution to the public stock holding); fisheries agreement, investment facilitation proposal, reforms in the WTO and dysfunctional appellate body of the Geneva-based forum. India is against the move led by countries such as China to push a proposal on investment facilitation at the World Trade ...

The WTO's dispute settlement body has accepted a request from India and Chinese Taipei not to adopt the ruling against New Delhi's import duties on certain information and technology products till October-end, as both sides are engaged in resolving the matter mutually, an official said. The issue came up during a meeting of the dispute settlement body (DSB) in Geneva on July 26. "The DSB agreed to the latest requests from Chinese Taipei and India," the Geneva-based official said. At the July 26 meeting, India and Chinese Taipei once again requested additional time from the DSB to consider the adoption of the panel rulings in the case initiated by Chinese Taipei regarding India's tariffs on certain high-tech goods. The two sides had asked that the DSB further delay consideration of the panel reports until October 28, 2024, to help facilitate the resolution of the disputes. The dispute body had earlier agreed to four previous such requests from India and Chinese Taipei to delay ...

Thailand has replaced its Ambassador to WTO Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield from here following a strong protest lodged by India on her contentious comment on New Delhi's rice procurement programme, a top government official said on Friday. The official said that Pitfield has been asked to report back to Thailand after the 13th ministerial conference (MC), which has entered the fifth day of talks. She has been learnt to have replaced the Thai foreign secretary. India has expressed strong disappointment over Pitfield's remarks during a consultation meeting on Tuesday accusing New Delhi that India's rice procurement programme at Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the public distribution system is not for people but for capturing the export market, the official said. Following this, India has formally registered its protest with the Thai government and has also expressed displeasure with the WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, agri committee chair Kenya and UAE. "The Thai Ambassador has been ...

The WTO ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi this week is seeking deals on ending fishing subsidies and extending a moratorium on digital trade tariffs - a move that India and South Africa oppose

The minister was responding to a question on India's trade negotiations with the UK and the European Union (EU) becoming more complicated

The WTO might continue to be the bedrock of the global trading system, but its context in today's era has perhaps changed

Sitharaman is currently visiting the US. Her visit started Tuesday, and she will be there for a week. She will be attending spring meetings and a G20 finance ministers' meeting

Twenty months ago, India and South Africa had urged WTO member nations to agree to temporarily waive some sections of TRIPS to ramp up production of vaccines, and diagnostics to combat Covid

The meet takes place under the shadow of global inflation, supply chain disruptions, lingering pandemic, slowing growth momentum, and the Russia-Ukraine war

India will press for a permanent solution to the issue of public stock holding of grains for food security programme and strongly protect the interests of farmers and fishermen at WTO ministerial meet

The Centre's comments are significant as the G7 countries have criticised India's ban on wheat exports

Government officials said India may not agree with the proposal as it will restrict its policy space to deal with domestic food security concerns

As confidence of member nations plummets, reforming the global body itself forms the core agenda for many countries

From PM Modi to deliver his sixth Independence Day speech to Indian Railways getting first dedicated corridor for freight trains, Business Standard brings you top events of the day

The WTO has to deal with an increasing number of complaints from countries across the world threatening to take retaliatory action against the US

A robust response to Trump by the entire membership is a must to save WTO

The failure to agree on new deals means that talks on the same trade topics will continue

India has been maintaining that permanent solution to food stockpile issue was a 'must have' at the ongoing ministerial

Suresh Prabhu told a press conference that the special and differential treatment was an integral part of the World Trade Organisation

India also asked them to refrain from raising new issues, especially those which are not linked to trade