General Council Meeting
December 16-18, 2020
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Statement by India – Delivered by Ambassador & PR to the WTO
Agenda 7- TRADE RELATED CHALLENGES OF THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AND WAY FORWARD: A DRAFT FOR MC DECISION – COMMUNICATIONS FROM CHAD ON BEHALF OF THE LDC GROUP (WT/GC/W/806, WT/GC/W/807)
Thank you Chair.
- We thank Chad and the LDC Group for their proposals, contained in documents WT/GC/W/806 and WT/GC/W/807. We would like to congratulate Vanuatu on their graduation.
- Chair, India has been a strong supporter of LDC’s integration into the multilateral trading system and is at the forefront of efforts to increase their share in global trade. We grant duty free access to about 96% of the tariff lines for goods originating from LDCs, with partial preference on another 114 tariff lines (i.e. about 2.15 % of tariff lines). India is the fourth biggest export destination for LDCs after EU, China and US. India also has a dedicated Centre for WTO Studies that helps LDCs to better integrate into the MTS through various technical assistance and capacity building initiatives.
- Chair, as the submissions notes, LDCs suffer from various capacity constraints and economic vulnerabilities. We, therefore, support that a reasonable period of time be granted as transition period for a comprehensive and effective smooth transition for graduating LDCs under the WTO system. We request Members to consider this proposal favourably.
- Thank you Chair
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