MSME and gender issues must be kept apart from WTO rules
The 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at Abu Dhabi, scheduled for 26-29 February, will discuss, among other issues, how the WTO can become more relevant for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and businesses run by women. Informal working groups on both MSMEs and gender were launched at the 11th ministerial in 2017. Since then, each group has come up with reports and is working towards more concrete outcomes.
India has stayed out of both groups, reasoning that these issues are not part of the WTO’s mandate, and that its members should instead focus on unfinished business of the WTO, including matters that impact food security and trade in services and goods. India rightly has misgivings over the non-trade nature of those two subjects. This needs a careful understanding.
To state the obvious, the objective of international trade is to ensure benefits for all sections of society within each trading country, not just large corporations. For trade to be truly meaningful, it has to achieve gains for the smallest of SMEs and small entrepreneurs, both women and men, and specific groups such as farmers and factory workers. Yet, the reality of international trade has not lived up to that objective.
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