Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday expressed confidence that the G20 trade and investment ministerial summit would deliver actionable and concrete outcomes that would help the world withstand “any future shocks” like the supply chain crises witnessed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The G20’s trade and investment working groups comprising officials from member countries, which have met on three earlier occasions during India’s ongoing G20 presidency, reconvened this week in Rajasthan’s capital. The groups had worked hard to forge a consensus on five key priorities that ministers would now take up, Mr. Goyal said.
These priorities include pursuing trade for growth and prosperity, building resilient global value chains, integrating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in global trade, improving trade logistics and facilitation, and reform of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“Two issues which Prime Minister Modi has also highlighted at the BRICS summit in South Africa have been deliberated at length - digitalisation of trade and trade facilitation and the importance of resilient and timely, trusted and transparent global supply chains,” Mr. Goyal said. “And we are confident that at this ministerial meeting, we will come up with a concrete actionable outcome agenda, which will help the world withstand any future shocks,” he added.
Mr. Goyal also reiterated India’s push for a rules-based, open and inclusive multilateral trading system and said there was a need to revive the dispute resolution mechanism at the WTO that had been defunct for years. The summit, which will open with an address from Mr. Modi on Thursday, includes representatives from the WTO and is scheduled to include a more than three-hour-long discussion on multilateral trade for growth and reforms of the global trade body.
Bilateral meetings are also planned with trade ministers from G20 nations, including Australia and the U.K. Australia’s assistant trade minister Tim Ayres said he would be discussing progress on the bilateral free trade agreement, which the two countries are looking to conclude this year.
