Commerce Secretary advocates strengthening multilateral trading system at BRICS meeting

Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, attending the 14th BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting, stressed the need to strengthen the multilateral trading system alongside the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry disclosed in an official statement. Barthwal stressed the urgent need to resolve long-standing issues, including a permanent solution to the Public Stock Holding issue, a two-tier dispute settlement system and WTO reform based on the principles and objectives of the global trade body.

Public Stock Holding remains an important instrument of government policy, ensuring food security through procurement, storage and distribution of food grains. Barthwal pointed to the need for better functioning of shared value chains, increased interaction among SMEs and showcasing India’s success stories in digitalization and e-commerce. He also stressed the importance of cooperation in special economic zones.

Participating in the 14th BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting on July 26, 2024 under the BRICS Chair of the Russian Federation, Barthwal called for strengthening supply chain resilience through decentralization and diversification, strengthened value chain cooperation through the G20 Generic Mapping Framework for GVCs, and established guiding principles for cooperation. Barthwal highlighted paperless trade and digital document management as steps towards digitalization, advocating cooperation to enable emerging technologies for green transformation and climate resilience.

The Commerce Secretary raised concerns about unilateral climate-related trade measures, stressing that such actions undermine rights and obligations under specialized multilateral environmental agreements and violate principles such as NDCs and CBDR. Barthwal emphasized the need to accelerate inclusive digital transformation.

Highlighting India’s achievements in building an open India Stack of Critical Digital Public infrastructure, Barthwal expressed his readiness to share these digitalization experiences with BRICS countries. He reiterated the Jaipur call to action to increase access to MSME information, praising the efforts of the Russian Presidency to compile essential MSME data among BRICS members.

(Based on information from the agency.)