WTO existence under threat, says Indian industry minister

Saying that global trade is passing through “challenging times”, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu yesterday said the existence of World Trade Organisation (WTO) was under threat.According to him, WTO is “a must” and in its absence, there will be chaos in the global trade.“Today, it is the most challenging time for global trade... we never had such a challenging time. For the first time, the existence of WTO is under threat. People are questioning the accepted trading norms,” he said at an event organised by Federation of Indian Export Organisations here.Citing an example of “letter of credit”, a prerequisite for exports to happen, Prabhu said fundamentals of global trade are “under scrutiny”.“If you don’t have WTO, not only India, every country will have problem. We strongly feel WTO is a must because it guarantees certain rules and regulations to run global trade. There will be chaos if you don’t have WTO.”Prabhu said the country was trying to make the global organisation strong.“We are not only talking of reform of WTO and working on how revitalise it. I personally work with important ministers of the world and am trying to find out (the way forward)... improving WTO is one thing and discarding it is a different thing,” he added.Prabhu said there is misconception that India is providing subsidies to its exporters, noting what the government gives is to minimise the adversities they suffer in entering the global markets.“This is a misconception that we subsidise our exports... actually we don’t subsidise the exports. What we give to the exporters in India is not any subsidy or incentive to promote exports but in a way, (to) partially offset the inadequate infrastructure support that they have.. the high interest cost in the system,” he said.“We are trying to minimise the adversities they suffer from. This is not actually exports subsidy but in a way it is actually reducing the burden which they suffer to enter the global markets,” he said at SHEFEXIL (Shellac and Forest Products Export Promotion Council) Awards for Export Excellence in association with The Economic Times. Rich countries are providing more subsidies to their farmers than India is giving, he said.“We are actually in a way not at all violating or not even trying to infringe any of the global trading system,” he added. Terming the creation of infrastructure a big challenge, the minister said India will need at least 1,000 planes in the next few years as it prepares a comprehensive and integrated plan for 2035 to boost the sector.“To create infrastructure for aviation is a big challenge and we, therefore, are preparing a comprehensive and integrated plan for 2035. Aviation is one of the sectors that can play a leadership role in the world,” Prabhu said.Delivering the Suresh Neotia Memorial Lecture on “Future of World Trade in Rising Clamour for Protectionism”, Prabhu said the government was also preparing a cargo policy that has a tremendous growth potential.“Separately, we are preparing a cargo policy as it has a huge potential to grow with the growing need to transport cargo from one place to another. Cargo flights can move at night with the policy coming in,” he said.The minister stated that the country’s aviation sector would log the highest continuous growth in the next few years, with technology and land being the key factors.“We need to create infrastructure on the ground to make flying successful. Procuring land for infrastructure projects is a challenge in India and land is going to be the driving force for many development projects in India.“Technology is going to play a big and key role,” he said. He said India was also preparing a plan for manufacturing planes in the country.“We need at least 1,000 planes in the next few years and don’t want to import them. We are separately preparing a plan for manufacturing these planes in India,” he said. Another plan was afoot for making drones. “Drones will now play an important role and drones itself is a trillion dollar market. For which we are preparing a plan.”Pointing out that a million jobs would be created in the aviation sector, the minister said: “We need skilled man power and we are working on a skilled development programme.”