Climate agenda shouldn’t be used to introduce trade restricting measures: Minister Anupriya Patel

The climate agenda at the world forum should not be used to introduce measures restricting trade and investment cooperation, Anupriya Patel, minister of state for commerce and industry has said.

At the 22nd Meeting of Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held on Wednesday, she addressed several key issues, including safeguarding of the core principles and goals of the Multilateral Trading System, as well as the vital areas of environmental preservation, environmental security, mitigation of the negative impacts of climate change, and the conservation of biodiversity.

The SCO comprises India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.


“She also cautioned that the climate agenda at the world forum should not be used to introduce measures restricting trade and investment cooperation,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

As per the statement, Patel also invited the SCO member states to participate in the first meeting of the Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine, scheduled to be held at the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat in November, a facility established by the World Health Organization.

With the SCO region accounting for 40% of the global population and 30% of the world's economy, the minister said that there is significant potential for increasing trade within the SCO region.

The meeting of ministers of the SCO member states responsible for foreign economic and foreign trade activities (trade ministers) was held under the chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Republic on September 27 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.