India, EU Strengthen Partnership On WTO Reforms

WASHINGTON, DC- India and the European Union will step up cooperation on reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO), with senior trade negotiators from both sides saying their recently concluded free trade agreement provides a stronger foundation for jointly pursuing changes to the global trading system amid growing uncertainty in international commerce.

The issue is expected to feature prominently at the next meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council in Brussels on July 15, where ministers will discuss a common approach to strengthening the multilateral trading system.

“There is a track in our engagement on the Trade and Technology Council on WTO as well,” said Darpan Jain, India’s chief negotiator for the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, during a discussion hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“Fundamentally, I think, we both believe in strengthening WTO, but we also believe that there is a reform which is required,” Jain said. “Especially in the current context, my feeling is both India and the EU recognize that we need to work together.”

Jain acknowledged the challenge of reforming an organization with a large and diverse membership.

“As you know, WTO is a body which has 164 members, so very difficult to hatch consensus there. But I think our efforts are in that direction,” he said.

Christophe Kiener, the European Union’s chief negotiator for the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, said the European Commission is preparing written proposals as part of ongoing discussions in Geneva on WTO reform.

“We are working on a couple or three written contributions that we are about to table in the context of ongoing discussions in Geneva on the reform of the World Trade Organization,” Kiener said.

Kiener said the India-EU Trade and Technology Council provides a dedicated platform for bilateral coordination on the issue.

“The Trade and Technology Council between the EU and India foresees that there is one strand of work that is about our bilateral dialogue on how to reform the WTO,” he said. “This is actually something that ministers will take up next week when they meet in the context of the TTC on the 15th of July in Brussels.”

The comments came months after India and the European Union concluded negotiations on one of the world’s largest free trade agreements, covering goods, services, investment, digital trade and supply-chain diversification.

Jain said ministers meeting in Brussels next week are expected to pursue “a very ambitious plan” to deepen cooperation and deliver tangible outcomes across multiple sectors. (IANS)