WTO Geneva conference: Piyush Goyal pitches for permanent solution for food security with WTO head in 12th Ministerial Conference

Talking tough at the 12th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference, India said the country won’t buckle down under any pressure and will seek consensus on some crucial issues like farm and food security, fisheries, WTO reforms, and response to the pandemic.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who represents India at WTO said India will be a solution, not a problem, and will also be the voice of developing and less developed nations, similarly, it will also protect its own farmers’ interests.

Goyal is leading the Indian delegation for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC) of the WTO. MC is the highest decision-making body of the WTO, and it is meeting after a gap of over four years. The meeting is being held in the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia war and the global food/energy crisis.

The minister also said India strongly believes that the WTO should not negotiate rules on non-trade-related subjects like climate change and gender, which legitimately fall within the domain of other inter-governmental organisations.

A permanent solution to the issue of public food stocks, which has already been delayed, should be the topmost priority for MC-12 before the members of the WTO move to new areas. The minister said the right to life and livelihood of traditional fishermen cannot be curtailed in any manner.

On the contrary, he said, those nations responsible for depleted fish stock should assume responsibility, having exploited the oceans for far too long by giving subsidies.

India on Sunday also called upon the G-33 group of developing countries to work collectively and reach out to other like-minded nations to secure their support in getting a fair, balanced and development-centric outcome at the WTO, which must include a permanent solution for the public stockholding and special safeguard mechanism.

"It is important that as the first step of agricultural reform, the historical asymmetries and imbalances must be corrected in order to ensure a rule-based fair and equitable order.

The minister said he also discussed issues related to agriculture, fisheries and temporary TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) waiver to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic during his bilateral meetings with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, South Africa Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai here.