Indian minister highlights need to strengthen WTO amid global tensions

Amid increasing challenges to the global trade, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu Thursday underlined the need for making the WTO a stronger and better organisation.

He said this while participating in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) public forum session through video conference.

"The WTO needs to work on an equitable trading system for all the countries around the world in the backdrop of the global trading system facing numerous challenges currently," the minister said in a tweet.

He also reaffirmed India's commitment to the relevance of the WTO and the ongoing efforts towards revitalising it.

"WTO must be made a stronger, better organization while keeping the elements of whatever has been agreed upon in the past," he added.

The statement assumes significance as countries certain is taking protectionist steps.

The Geneva-based WTO recently lowered the growth projections for global trade to 3.9 per cent from the 4.4 per cent estimated earlier for 2018.

(With inputs from agencies.)