Senior officials discuss issues at 2-day WTO meet in Geneva

New Delhi Issues like dispute settlement reform, agriculture, fisheries subsidies and moratorium on customs duties on e-commerce trade figured in the two-day meeting of senior officials of WTO members in Geneva.

The meeting concluded on October 24. From India, senior officials, including Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Peeyush Kumar, participated in the deliberations. According to the chairperson’s summary of the meeting, senior officials strongly supported the ongoing informal process on dispute settlement (DS) reform being carried out in Geneva by technical experts. This summary was prepared by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and General Council Chairperson Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme from Botswana. In expressing their political support for DS reform work, senior officials emphasised on the need to focus on addressing the DS challenges with a sense of urgency; and to take into account the dispute settlement interests of all member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the summary said.