Goyal calls for settling trade barriers like vaccine differentiations or Covid passports at G20 Meet of Ministers in Italy

Naples/New Delhi, Oct 12 (FN Agency) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called for actively resolving new trade barriers like vaccine differentiations or COVID passports as they impose mobility restrictions and impede the movement of people delivering critical services. Speaking at the G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting in Naples, Italy on Tuesday, the Minister called for waiver of IPR and dismantling new trade barriers in the global fight against the pandemic. “Our response to the pandemic needs to ensure equitable access to vaccines and other COVID-19 related health products by ensuring quick resolution of the supply side constraints. One of the ways to demonstrate this is by accepting the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver proposal,” he said.

Stressing on the need for an early universal vaccination against Covid19, Goyal said that apart from focusing on facilitating free flow of goods, the G20 countries should join in efforts to make health services accessible and more affordable by the citizens of the world by enabling free flow of health services. Talking about telemedicine initiative “e Sanjeevani”, the Minister said that it has been serving millions of Indians and offered it to the entire world. Underscoring equitable and balanced outcome to the trade negotiations in the fisheries sector, Goyal advocated that countries engaged in distant water fishing should stop subsidizing their fishing in high seas and gradually reduce their fishing capacities, particularly, for overfished stocks. “To achieve balanced outcomes in fisheries Subsidies, policy space for future is a must, not only to protect the livelihoods of poor and marginal fishermen and address, the food security concerns but also to diversify, modernise and develop the fisheries sector,” he said. In his G20 Ministerial Address, the Minister said that India is committed towards the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“India is among the few countries which is on track to exceed its commitments as per the Paris Agreement. We urge the Members to fulfil their commitments regarding Transfer of Technology and Climate Finance, which are far from being fulfilled by the Developed Countries,” he said. On the sidelines of the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting at Sorrento, Italy Goyal met with nearly 15 Ministers to advance India’s trade position and negotiated bilateral and multilateral agreements. Among the countries and dignitaries met included DG WTO (World Trade Organization), US, UK, EU, Brazil, China, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Canada, South Korea and Mexico. He unequivocally put forth the position that India is working towards the success of the upcoming WTO 12th Ministerial Conference (WTO MC12) next month but the outcome must be just and equitable. “Historical wrongs against developing countries must be corrected rather than being carried over,” he said. In his meetings with the Canadian Minister, Goyal discussed steps to take forward the FTA negotiations with the newly elected Government while he called upon his South Korean and EU counterparts to accelerate review of the FTA. With the Mexican Minister, he discussed cooperation in healthcare.