Questions raised on S&DT are controversial, extremely divisive: Prabhu in WTO meet

India on Monday said that questions being raised by certain developed countries on flexibilities provided to developing economies under the WTO norms are "controversial" and "extremely divisive".

Addressing WTO (World Trade Organisation) ministerial meeting of 23 developing and least developed countries (LDCs) here, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said the crisis in the appointment of members in the appellate body WTO's dispute settlement system would hit the multi-lateral body.

He also said that a declaration, to be issued tomorrow after the conclusion of the meeting, will seek to reaffirm the importance of a rules-based multilateral trading system and provide suggestions for WTO reforms.

Regarding this, the minister called upon the participating member countries to come to a common understanding of the declaration.

"These are difficult times at the WTO, particularly for developing members. The crisis in the Appellate Body threatens to bring back power play to the multilateral ...