INDIA LEADS THE PUSHBACK

India’s commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal may have been two days late to join deliberations at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Abu Dhabi, but his presence was felt as soon as he arrived.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

From teaming up with South Africa to block the China-led Investment Facilitation Development (IFD) Agreement, which would have potentially put non-trade barriers on foreign direct investments, to joining hands with a cohort of Pacific nations to corner the Western bloc on unregulated and subsidised fishing in the deep sea, India asserted its own and the Global South’s interests.

To begin with, no consequential outcomes were expected from this round, held from February 26 to March 2, yet the pressure was on the 164-member body to achieve its mandate of building consensus on trade rules—further complicated by a series of global disruptions. Most of New Delhi’s stances were driven by domestic complexities, but also represented the country’s growing clout on multilateral platforms. Here’s a look at some of the key issues and outcomes:

INVESTMENT FACILITATION

The issue: Agreed upon by some 123 countries, the IFD Agreement is meant to improve the investment environment and encourage FDIS.