The head of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Tuesday asked India to join the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement initially sponsored by China and has since then garnered support from several other member countries of the multilateral body.
“We need India as a leader. India is a leading country, and India is doing well. So India needs to open the way for other developing countries. For example, we want (India to) support investment facilitation for development… because so many developing countries…90 out of the 126 who are members, would like to move with this,” she told reporters after meeting commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal here.
India’s opposition to the agreement stems from the fact that it will reduce its policy space on investment matters and its stance that that WTO should rather focus on trade-related matters.
The Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement was first proposed in April 2017. At the 13th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in February-March 2024 the agreement was finalised and made part of the Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement that established WTO.
While all agreements are reached at the WTO on consensus, rules allow countries to come together and reach plurilateral deals. The commitments made under the agreement are applicable only on signatories. China wants it to make it a full agreement under the WTO through which it can then access the trade body’s dispute settlement mechanism on investment issues.
The Director General of the Geneva-based body also said that she discussed several issues such as WTO reforms and agriculture with Goyal. But for agriculture, “we also need to listen to” what India’s issues are and try to be as supportive as possible,” she said.
The WTO chief, a Nigerian-American economist, is here to participate in a mini-ministerial meeting, which is scheduled on the margins of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Ministerial Council Meeting here. It was convened by Australia. The meeting comes just at a time when preparations are picking up for the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference that will be held in March next year in Cameroon.
Trade ministers from about 25 countries including India, Australia, and Singapore are here to attend the meet. “We are invited by Australia to be able to talk to each other about possible reforms to the WTO…,” Iweala said, adding “the multilateral trading system has been disrupted in a way it hasn’t been before”.
“But guess what? Sometimes I see challenges as opportunities, and I think this is a very good opportunity for the WTO members to look at what are those things that work and should be kept and there are many,” she said.
She added that still three quarters of world goods trade is taking place on WTO terms, on MFN (most favoured nation) terms and members want to safeguard that.