Context:
Recently, 13th ministerial conference (MC13) was held in UAE with an aim to provide solution to food security for fisherman.
Ministerial Conference:
- Top-most decision-making body of WTO
- Meets every 2 years
- It brings together all members (countries or customs unions) of the WTO
- It can make decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements
13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
- Held at – UAE (Abu Dhabi)
- Participants – Trade ministers of 164 countries members of WTO
Key Highlights of Meeting:
- Comoros and Timor Leste acceded to WTO.
- India has opposed mixing non-trade topics (e.g. Gender, MSMEs etc) with WTO rules as it can lead to greater trade fragmentation.
- Such non-trade topics are already under discussion in other relevant international organizations.
- India has conveyed significant apprehensions regarding the growing utilization of unilateral trade protectionist measures, often purportedly justified under the pretext of environmental protection
Other concerns of India:
| Issues | India’s stand |
| Plurilateral agreements | Opposed China-led Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) proposal :investment falls outside the mandate of WTOIndia is against plurilateral pacts on multilateral platforms |
| Public stockholding (PSH) programme | Wants a permanent solution for the PSH programme. Food subsidies of developing countries are protected by the Bali peace clause at present (negotiated as a temporary solution) |
| Moratorium on customs duty on e-commerce | WTO countries have agreed to not impose customs duties on electronic transmissions covering both goods and services since 1998 Opposes extension of this moratorium as it benefits developed countries at the cost of developing countries |
Public stockholding (PSH) programme:
- A policy tool under which the government procures crop like rice and wheat from farmers at a Minimum Support Price (MSP) and stores and distributes food grains to the poor
World Trade Organisation:
- Established in – 1995
- Successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the World War II
- Objective – To help trade flow smoothly, freely and predictably
- Members – 164 members (accounting for 98% of world trade)
- Secretariat – Geneva (Switzerland)
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Which of the following are the main functions of WTO?
1. To organize meetings of member countries to arrive at trade agreements covering international trade
2. To ensure that member countries conduct trade practices as per agreement agreed upon and signed by the member countries
3. To provide a platform to negotiate and settle disputes related to international trade between and among member countries
Choose the correct code from below:
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2017 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
