Success of WTO meeting depends on India’s stance

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The responsibility for the success of the WTO ministerial depends on India’s stance or rather on India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. His absence on the first day of the meeting raised quite a few eyebrows leading to a lot of speculation.

Okonjo Iweala, the General Secretary of the organization, was asked why the Indian side was not to seen seen in Abu Dhabi. The General Secretary said that Piyush Goyal will be a part of the talks from Tuesday.

The discussion of deal maker vs deal breaker has started on Piyush Goyal. The phrase deal maker originated from the last WTO meeting which was held in Geneva in June 2022. India had made a strong objection in this meeting. The issue was about subsidy to the fishing industry. India was asking for relief for developing countries. The talks were derailed and India’s point was accepted at the last moment. The terms of the agreement softened. The meeting which was heading towards failure suddenly turned out to be successful. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said at that time that people were calling India a deal breaker but India has proved to be a deal maker.

India’s stance remains quite aggressive in WTO meetings under the leadership of Goyal. This time Goyal will face the new opposition from China, America and the European community. There is pressure on WTO to recognise the agreement among selected countries even if all the members do not agree. This is an attempt to isolate India. Whereas India wants that the countries of the world should also be given the freedom to not follow WTO rules. Piyush Goyal also has to get concessions for developing countries in Abu Dhabi and also maintain warmth in India’s trade relations with major markets.