India Backs WTO-Centric Fair Trade at SCO Trade Ministers’ Meet

Rapid Summary

• Event: India participated in the SCO Trade Ministers’ Meeting held in Vladivostok, represented by Amitabh Kumar, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce.
• Key Agenda Points:

– Emphasized export diversification,supply chain resilience,and reduced dependency.- Advocated for an open and fair multilateral trading system centered around WTO principles.
– Stressed development-focused trade policies including permanent solutions for food security via Public Stockholding (PSH),effective Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) for developing nations,and the restoration of a functional WTO dispute settlement mechanism.
– Proposed strengthening trade flows through better market access while warning against export-related measures weaponization or misuse to distort markets.

• Digital Economy: Showcased India’s digital public Infrastructure (DPI), featuring UPI real-time payments, India stack for identity management, ONDC for digital commerce; floated proposals on regulatory frameworks and cooperation among SCO nations to support MSMEs through cost reductions and market access improvements.
• Sustainable Development: Highlighted Mission LiFE initiative promoting environmentally conscious practices guided by equity principles; cautioned against arbitrary climate-linked trade discrimination.
• AVGC Sector Promotion: Presented India’s emerging leadership in Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comics; referenced WAVES Summit success in catalyzing global partnerships focused on creative sectors like media collaboration hubs.
• Acknowledged contributions made under Russia’s SCO leadership while reaffirming partnership commitments under Tajikistan’s upcoming chairmanship.

Indian Opinion Analysis

India’s contributions at the SCO Trade Ministers’ Meeting align with its broader goals of enhancing regional connectivity and building resilient global economic structures while advocating equitable policies under WTO frameworks. By stressing priorities like supply chain de-risking via diversification and interoperability paired with sustainable digital expansion tools such as UPI or ONDC among trusted partners reflects an attempt toward balanced partnerships that can address vulnerabilities exacerbated post-COVID recovery efforts globally.

The push toward inclusive trade facilitation reforms targeting MSMEs highlights pragmatic steps to drive mutual growth amid shifting geopolitical interests across regions linked largely bound regional multi-layer root stays integrally tied ongoing future-cooperation Value-Chains persisting-supply maintains meaning vital interest long-term .

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