New Delhi, June 23 (KNN) The Secretary General of CUTS International Pradeep S. Mehta has been appointed as a member in the NGO Advisory Body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

This appointment was made by the Director General of WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

It is the third time that he has been chosen by the WTO DGs, making him the only Indian citizen to be appointed.

He had served on the advisory bodies to Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, DG, WTO during 2003-05, and Dr Pascal Lamy, DG, WTO during 2012-13.

The current NGO advisory body includes Kirsten Schujit, DG, WWF; Jason Braganza, ED, Afrodad; Helena Leurent of Consumers International etc. 

The first meeting of the advisory body took place virtually when Dr Okonjo-Iweala briefed the body about the current state of play and what she expects the advisory body to help her with.

Food security was the focus of the first meeting, where the issues of subsidies in the agriculture sector of the west came up for criticism because it also has an environmental burden which is worsening the climate change scenario.

It was recognised that public stockholding being demanded by many developing countries like India is a necessary condition for their large poor population's food security.

Fisheries subsidies also came up for discussion which would be taken forward in MC13.

"I look forward to assisting Dr Ngozi in reinforcing the multilateral agenda of the WTO and ensure that the developing countries, and LDCs in particular, are able to gain advantage of their membership to create more wealth and reduce poverty in the world," said Mehta.

"Many inequities in the system need to be addressed so that the Global South is able to rise," he added.

Mehta said that CUTS has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to persuade the US President, Joe Biden and the US Congress to agree to restore the dispute settlement system in the WTO soon.

"This will empower the Global South to deal with disputes against the rich countries expeditiously," he said.  (KNN Bureau)