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In this meeting, mainly the WTO response to COVID-19, the issues of patent exemption, agriculture and food security, WTO reforms, proposed fisheries subsidy agreement are expected to be discussed extensively.
world trade organization (WTO) The 12th Ministerial Conference is starting from Sunday. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal (Piyush Goyal) The Indian delegation will lead this meeting. In this, India will insist on a permanent solution to the issue of public storage of food grains for food security programmes. It will also take up the issue of firmly protecting the interests of farmers and fishermen. The four-day meeting of the WTO’s apex body ministerial conference will be held in Geneva from June 12 to 15. The meeting is taking place after a gap of four years, at a time when Ukraine and Russia are at war and the global economic situation is full of uncertainties.
The last time this meeting was held in Argentina was in 2017. The MC is the highest decision-making body of the 164-member World Trade Organization (WTO). In this meeting, mainly the WTO response to COVID-19, the issues of patent exemption, agriculture and food security, WTO reforms, proposed fisheries subsidy agreement are expected to be discussed extensively. In the conference, India will emphasize on a permanent solution to the issue of Public Storage (PSH) for food security programmes. The PSH program is a policy measure under which the government buys crops like rice and wheat from farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and stores them and distributes food grains to the poor.
What does India want?
However, the WTO’s agreement on agriculture limits the government’s ability to buy food grains at MSP. According to global trade rules, the food subsidy expenditure of a WTO member country should not exceed 10 per cent of the production value based on the 1986-88 reference price. An expert said, in such a situation, a permanent solution to this issue means a lot for India. According to an official, India wants the WTO to allow the export of food grains from public storage for international food security and humanitarian purposes, especially on a government-to-government basis. Current WTO rules do not allow member countries to export food grains from public storage. An official said, we believe that the WTO is an important organization. Its multilateral nature should never be affected, so we will support all efforts to improve its functioning.
Emphasis on Fisheries Subsidy Agreement
WTO member states are also negotiating a Fisheries Subsidy Agreement, which aims to end subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and ban subsidies for overfishing and overfishing to ensure sustainable fishing. Promote the system. It is estimated that 34 per cent of global storage is made up of overfishing, which is ten per cent more than in 1974. These figures show that the areas with the presence of fish were over-exploited.
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, Canada and the US insist on streamlining and disciplining subsidies, while countries such as India and Indonesia seek flexibility under specific treatment. India says that developing countries that do not fish in remote waters should get at least 25 years of relief from the subsidy ban on over-fishing.
India to strongly oppose continuation of customs duty on e-commerce business
India will strongly oppose the continuation of the customs duty on e-commerce trade in the upcoming WTO meeting and insist on abolishing it, as it is adversely affecting the developing countries. India and South Africa have also proposed temporary exemptions from certain provisions of the WTO in intellectual property rights. India has a significant stake in protecting the interests of developing and poor countries as well as all stakeholders in the country looking to India’s leadership in multilateral fora, including the WTO.
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