New Delhi: India on Saturday said it strongly opposes the controversial China-led Investment Facilitation Development (IFD) deal for its inclusion in the WTO framework.
The inclusion of the IFD agreement risks violating the functional limits of the WTO and undermining its basic principles, Minister of Trade and Industry Piyush Goyal he said in a post on the social network.
This was stated by India at the ongoing 14th Ministerial Conference World Trade Organization (WTO) in Yaounde, Cameroon.
“At #WTOMC14, India, drawing inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy that Truth prevails over conformity, showed the courage to stand alone on the contentious issue of the IFD Agreement and did not agree to its inclusion in the WTO framework as an Annex 4 Agreement,” he said.
Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement contains multilateral trade agreements, which, unlike mandatory multilateral agreements, are binding only on WTO members that have accepted them.
As part of WTO reform discussions, members are discussing safeguards and legal safeguards for multilateral parties before integrating any specific multilateral outcome, Goyal said.
“In view of the current systemic issue, India has demonstrated openness to good faith, comprehensive discussions and constructive engagement in the WTO reform agenda,” he added.
At the MC13 in Abu Dhabi, India also strongly opposed the pact.
The China-led group is promoting the Investment Facilitation Development (IFD) proposal. The proposal will be binding only on the signed members.
The IFD was first established in 2017 by China and other countries that are heavily dependent on Chinese investment, and countries with sovereign wealth funds are party to the pact.
