WTO impasse leaves European trade boss upset, Piyush Goyal says 'not lost out anything'

WTO impasse leaves European trade boss upset, Piyush Goyal says ‘not lost out anything’

Despite five days of hard bargaining at Abu Dhabi, World Trade Organization negotiators failed to break the deadlock on major reforms.

There was no breakthrough on agriculture, fisheries and other key topics. However, a moratorium on imposing tariffs on e-commerce data transmissions was extended by two years, in a relief to businesses.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said it is a “good outcome”. He said that a lot of issues continue to make progress in terms of discussions.

European Trade Commissioner  Valdis Dombrovskis expressed disappointment over the lack of consensus on fisheries, agriculture and broader reforms, and singled out India for blame.

“Agreements were within reach, supported by an overwhelming majority of members, but ultimately blocked by a handful of countries – sometimes just one,” he said in a statement.

“We have not lost out on anything. I go back happy and satisfied,” Goyal told reporters as talks started to wind down.

India successfully pushed the food security issue and the country did not yield any ground on protecting the interest of poor farmers and fishermen as well as on other issues.

The 166-member WTO was not able to reach a common ground for resolving the food security issue, a demand raised prominently by India as it was crucial for the livelihood of 800 million people across the globe, and curbing subsidies that leads to overfishing and over capacity.

New Delhi has been pressing for a permanent solution to the issue of public stock holding (PSH) of grains for food security programmes and has asked developed countries engaged in distant water fishing to stop providing any kind of subsidies for 25 years.

Meanwhile, Thailand replaced its Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) after India lodged a strong protest over her remarks regarding New Delhi’s rice procurement programme, as per media reports.

India had expressed disappointment over Pitfield’s remarks made during a consultation meeting on Tuesday, where she accused India of using its rice procurement programme at the Minimum Support Price for the public distribution system not for the benefit of its people but to capture the export market.

After registering their protest, Indian delegates at the WTO meeting refrained from participating in certain group discussions where the Thai representative was present.

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