WTO enforces new rule for simplifying services trade
NEW DELHI : New Delhi: The 13th Ministerial Conference (MCA 13) of the World Trade Organization on Tuesday announced new rules to streamline the international trade in services. These regulations, which apply on a Most Favored Nation (MFN) basis, aim to make authorization processes more transparent and accessible, with commitments to gender equality. The reduction in barriers to the services trade could have a substantial economic impact, particularly benefiting poorer countries, and emerging economies like India that are driven by services, experts said.
The regulations are a response to the bureaucratic challenges faced by businesses in cross-border service trade, aiming to simplify procedures and promote equal opportunities for service suppliers worldwide. "While details of the Agreement are still awaited, the new agreement looks like plurilateral agreement, where not everyone is a party. India and South Africa have not signed this Agreement.
WTO, being the top multilateral trade body should rather focus on core issues of interest to all members and not of a few," said Ajay Srivastava, the founder of Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI). Meanwhile, global leaders at the meeting, being held in Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday argued for the need to reduce the trade in plastics citing greenhouse emissions from its use. They also emphasized the need to rationalize, phase out or eliminate harmful fossil fuel subsidies through existing or new mechanisms.
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