Speaking on the opening day of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference in Cameroon, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal urged restoration of the automatic and binding dispute settlement system and said special and differential treatment (S&DT) must be “precise, effective and operational”.
His remarks come as about 120 members have backed a China-led proposal to include an Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) framework in the WTO through a plurilateral route under Annex 4. A meeting among participating countries is expected on Saturday.
India has opposed the IFD, calling it a “non-mandated, non-multilateral issue”, and citing a 2004 WTO decision that bars negotiations on investment facilitation. The proposed framework seeks to establish a pre-investment screening mechanism through an independent body, potentially limiting policy flexibility.
“The incorporation of plurilateral outcomes into the WTO framework should be based on consensus and not impair existing rights of non-parties or cast additional obligations on them,” Goyal said, insisting that the past mandates should be delivered on priority.
On the issue of continuation of the 28-year moratorium on e-commerce transmissions, Goyal said: “In the absence of a common understanding among members on the scope of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions and given its potentially significant implications, the continued extension of this moratorium warrants careful reconsideration”.
“I want to be clear: the United States is not interested in another temporary extension of the moratorium. It would not provide our businesses the certainty needed for their operations. It would also further weaken the WTO’s standing,” said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in a video message.
WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in her opening remarks, said members should work towards a “workable solution on extension of the e-commerce moratorium and work programme” and said that development is not just about special privileges or rights but also about what investment and growth will be like in all countries, particularly the least developed countries.