Utilise mini-ministerial to create support for revitalising WTO: FICCI

Industry body FICCI on Monday urged the government to use the WTO mini-ministerial platform for creating alliances and consolidating support among member countries to revitalise the multilateral trading system."It will help in effectively countering attempts by some countries to dilute the importance of multilateralism and weaken the World Trade Organisation (WTO)," said Sandip Somany, President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)."We at FICCI feel this is a much-needed step as WTO has been under severe stress in recent times amid rising trade tensions and questions are raised over the relevance of the institution."The WTO mini-ministerial is being held in the national capital on Monday and Tuesday.In a letter sent to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the chamber said that it would like the 'special and differential treatment' (S & DT) to continue at WTO for all developing and least developed members as its provisions are an integral part of .