The outcome of the 13th ministerial conference of the WTO was “good” and India is “completely satisfied” as the country continues to retain its full policy space to protect the interests of farmers and fishermen in every respect. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said this while interacting with reporters in Abu Dhabi after the five-day meeting of the Trade Ministers of the 166-member World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Minister Piyush Goyal also added that New Delhi’s procurement of food grains for distribution among the poor continues uninterrupted and without any hindrance. As the members were not able to reach a consensus on key issues such as agriculture and fisheries subsidies, the talks, which were scheduled to end on the 29th of February, got extended for a day. The talks at the WTO’s ministerial conference ended with no decision on issues such as finding a permanent solution to public food stockpile and curbing fisheries subsidies. However, the members agreed to further extend the moratorium on imposing import duties on e-commerce trade for two more years.
