WTO Reforms Must be Taken Up by All Member Countries, says Piyush Goyal
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Commerce & Industry Minister Addresses the South-South and
Triangular Cooperation
[MoC&I Press
Release dated 22.08.2019]
The time has come to take on the
policies of protectionism and unilateral measures by some developed countries that
are having an adverse effect on global free trade and if this continues there will
be recession in the world and no country will escape it, said Union Minister of
Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal.
He was speaking at an international
dialogue on South-South and Triangular Cooperation today in New Delhi. Commerce
and Industry Minister urged that all member countries must take up reforms of the
WTO and not deal with issues in a piecemeal manner. We cannot afford to walk away
from the current system but all member countries of the WTO must re-engage to ensure
that the rule-based, transparent, and non-discriminatory governance that free-trade
requires is taken forward honestly and in a non-discriminatory manner and keeping
in mind the interests of different member countries with disparate GDP.
Piyush Goyal further stated
that the policies of protectionism being followed by some countries in the developed
world are affecting engagement between countries for trade in goods, services and
protection of investments.
The aspirations of people cannot
be held back for a better life: for sustainable growth of the seven billion people
of the world and India is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
and believes that peoples’ aspirations cannot be held back till 2030, said the Commerce
and Industry Minister. India is not going to wait till 2030 to give access to energy,
literacy and clean potable water to its people, India is fast-tracking its efforts
to reach the SDGs to the last man at the bottom of the pyramid. India also desires
that this pace of development reaches people in the rest of the world.
South-South cooperation is a broad
framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic,
social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing
countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional, or interregional
basis. South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity among peoples and
countries of the South and the attainment of the goals of Sustainable Development.
Commerce and Industry Minister
hoped that the South-South and Triangular Cooperation will help the developed world
become a part of the developing world’s growth agenda.