WTO reforms have to factor in interests of all, says Suresh Prabhu

"WTO's reforms have to take into account the interests of all members. It has to come out with a forward-looking agenda in an inclusive manner," Prabhu said

Suresh Prabhu, the prime minister's sherpa for the G20 summit, on Monday said the World Trade Organization (WTO) was is in a ventilator and it had to come out of it.

“A new world is going to unfold and we don’t know as yet how it would look like. Multilateralism per se is under a very serious threat. The question is how to deal with this threat when it is needed most,” he said on a webinar organised by CUTS.

Referring to India’s initiative following the Buenos Aires ministerial conference in December 2017, which could not agree onto a consensus-based ministerial declaration, he said: “We have to find a solution. It can’t be one way or another. WTO’s reforms have to take into account the interests of all members. It has to come out with a forward-looking agenda in an inclusive manner.”

He urged CUTS to write a paper on “what would happen to a world without the WTO”. “We need to find a clear answer to this question. For India to grow, we need a body like WTO to govern world trade,” he said.