This story is from December 11, 2017

China, Pak, others seek talks on investment at WTO meet

India's headache seems to be rising as 51 countries, including China and Pakistan, are seeking discussions on a global policy for investment facilitation at the World Trade Organization meeting, which formally kicked off on Sunday evening.
China, Pak, others seek talks on investment at WTO meet
Delegates attend the opening ceremony of the 11th World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Buenos Aires. (Reuters photo)
BUENOS AIRES: India's headache seems to be rising as 51 countries, including China and Pakistan, are seeking discussions on a global policy for investment facilitation at the World Trade Organization meeting, which formally kicked off on Sunday evening.
In addition, Susan Malcorra, Argentinian minister and the chairman of the ministerial meeting, has also convened a meeting later on Monday to discuss the future of WTO, which many in the Indian camp suspect will give the US and the European Union a platform to seek discussions on new or "21st century issues" such as e-commerce and MSMEs, instead of continuing the 16-year-old Doha Round, which was supposed to create a level-playing field for developing and poor countries.

Monday is a crucial day when tough negotiations begin. Efforts are underway on various tracks, including through a panel of parliamentarians, to get the so-called non-trade issues such as gender and environment also into the WTO fold.
India is opposed to discussions the new issues as it believes that they do not belong to WTO and sources said, it will block attempts to bring them on the agenda.
Sources said that 'Friends of Investment Facilitation for Development' -- a group of countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Korea and Mexico -- moved a proposal on Sunday to appoint a sixth "facilitator" to guide discussions on the issue, which is being opposed by India. The government has over the years argued that a global discipline on investment facilitation will limit its policy space and may even treat foreign investors at par with domestic companies.

For China, which has acquired a strong global footprint in recent years, a global agreement will restrict ability of governments to block the entry of Chinese companies.
"Currently, the proposal is only for talks at the ministerial meeting but the overall strategy is to have detailed discussions later to put in place an international regime," said an official.
The government believes that many of the issues are non-trade issues and WTO should be engaged with aspects that directly impact export and import of goods and services.
As reported by TOI earlier, the WTO had kept the doors open for discussions on issues such as investment facilitation, while setting up a facilitator to work with ministers on e-commerce. WTO has appointed five facilitators for talks at the ministerial meeting, which includes those on agriculture, fisheries, services and non-agriculture market access, development and e-commerce.
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