India keen to sign Preferential Trade Agreements with Global South countries

New Delhi, Jan 14 (KNN) Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal on Friday said that India is open to enter into Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) with interested countries in the South.

He mentioned that India is providing unilateral duty-free market access to the least-developed countries (LDCs) since 2008 through the duty-free tariff preference (DFTP) scheme of India.

Speaking at the "Voice of Global South Summit”, he called upon countries of Global South to forge new partnerships and mechanisms so that the voice of the Global South is reflected on the decision-making table.

The Summit encompassed inaugural and concluding sessions at Head of State / Government level, and hosted by the Prime Minister, and 8 Ministerial sessions hosted by respective Cabinet Ministers of India.

The Minister said the objective of the Summit is to pay attention to the issues pertaining to the Global South and those issues before key global forums like G20, the UN and other multilateral settings.

Touching upon the theme of the Session, the minister said these are the key pillars for development of the countries of the South.

He also emphasised upon the need for de-politicization of the global supply of essential medicines.

The Commerce Minister said, “At the WTO Ministerial Conference held in Geneva in June 2022, India, South Africa, and other developing countries worked together to obtain the TRIPS waiver decision providing equitable and affordable access to vaccines. We shall redouble our efforts at the WTO to get the TRIPS waiver extended to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.”

He further highlighted that the countries of the Global South are now contributing more than half of the world’s economic growth with South-South trade touching USD 5.3 trillion in 2021.

In this regard, he urged for enhanced trade linkages for the mutual benefit of all our countries.  (KNN Bureau)