India has been able to secure a favourable outcome at the WTO after many years despite a strong global campaign against Indian farmers and fishermen, said Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal at the conclusion of the 12th WTO ministerial conference in Geneva today.

Goyal said the Indian delegation, guided constantly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been 100 per cent successful in portraying before the world the priority issues for India and the developing world.

He said the Indian delegation leveraged India’s strong relationship with the world which the PM has nurtured over the last few years.

“Few countries attempted to create a false campaign, initially on Sunday and Monday, that India is obstinate due to which no progress is being made. The real situation has emerged before us all, the issues raised by India, on which the Prime Minister had asked us to focus upon, now the whole world acknowledges that was the correct agenda and ultimately India played a vital role in arriving at all solutions,” he said.

Stating that it was a proud day for 135 crore Indians at the WTO, Goyal said India took the lead and was at the centre of the conference. “It turned the tide of negotiations from full failure, gloom and doom to optimism, enthusiasm and consensus-based decision. India’s efforts to bring members to a table to discuss issues irrespective of the existing geopolitical order has ensured that the world order is not broken,” he said.

Admitting that India and the developing countries accepted certain compromising decisions when the WTO was established 30 years ago and during the Uruguay Round of negotiations, Goyal said India today bated on the front foot rather than being fearful on various issues, be it environment, startups, MSMEs or gender equality. This was a result of the confidence of “New India”. India was able to build consensus and get a Win-Win outcome for the world, he said.

“Today as we return to India there is no issue on which we have to be the least concerned, whether it is related to agriculture such as MSP, reinforcing the relevance of the Public Stockholding Programme towards fulfilling the National Food Safety Programme or PM Garib Kalyan Scheme, TRIPS Waiver, e-Commerce moratorium, response to Covid and fisheries,” said Goyal.