India, China join other BRICS nations to support WTO

Notwithstanding military stand-off along the boundary between the two nations, India and China on Friday joined Russia, Brazil and South Africa to rally behind the World Trade Organization (WTO), which was at the receiving end of the United States President Donald Trump’s tirade.

The five nations re-affirmed their support for “a transparent, open, inclusive and non-discriminatory rules-based multilateral trading system, as embodied in the WTO”.

Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi participated in a BRICS (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) video conference on Friday – amid continuing stand-off between Indian Army and the communist country’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.

The virtual meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers was chaired by Sergey Lavrov of Russia. It was also attended by Grace Naledi Pandor of South Africa and Ernesto Araújo of Brazil.

The ministers noted that the current interconnected international challenges were “a powerful reminder of the imperative to strengthen cooperation between states” and must “be addressed through reinvigorated diplomacy, strengthened and reformed multilateral systems, including the United Nations, the WTO, the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund and other international organisations.”

The BRICS Foreign Ministers emphasized the central role of the WTO in promoting predictability, stability and legal certainty for international trade, according to a joint media statement issued after the virtual meeting.

Trump has been running a tirade against the WTO – accusing it of being unfair to the US. He also threatened to withdraw from the organisation, which was established to set rules for international trade and resolve commercial disputes among the countries. Trump's administration has also been blocking new appointments to the WTO Appellate Body, thus paralyzing the dispute settlement mechanism of the organisation.

The US President accused the WTO of failing to adequately respond to the unfair trade practices of China.

The BRICS nations sent out a message to the US on Friday, by underlining the importance of all the WTO members abiding by its rules and complying with their respective commitments, thus avoiding unilateral and protectionist measures, which run counter to the spirit and the rules of the organisation. The Foreign Ministers of the five member-nations of the bloc “stressed the urgency of ensuring the restoration and preservation of the normal functioning of the WTO Dispute Settlement System”.

They also reiterated the importance of reforms in the WTO.

The BRICS ministers conveyed grave concern over the major international challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and its serious health, social and economic impacts around the world. They reiterated the “pressing need to preserve jobs and income, in particular for the most vulnerable groups of society”.

They underscored the urgency of restoring international growth and international trade, strengthening markets stability and resilience. The ministers stressed the value of cooperation between states, both bilaterally and multilaterally, according to the joint statement issued after the virtual meeting.