Piyush Goyal cautions global south of rich nations' 'divide & rule policy'

New Delhi: Ahead of a key ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization early next year, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal cautioned emerging markets, developing countries and the least developed countries of the developed countries' "game of dividing" them to get agreements on fisheries and ecommerce moratorium that address the needs of a few countries only.

At the CII India-Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) Region Conclave, he said that at the last WTO ministerial, many countries were trying to divide such countries through "small sops".

"We fail each other, we fail to understand each other. At the WTO ministerial conference last year, (we saw) how in many areas we were not on the same page despite having shared interests in many areas," Goyal said.


Cautioning the global South of this "divide and rule policy", the minister said that "many countries were trying to divide the emerging markets, developing world and the less developed countries through small sops".

"They are playing the game so beautifully, dividing us," he said, adding that on fisheries agreement, they isolated a certain large section of the developing or less developed countries by a de minimis which addressed the needs of a few countries.

Goyal said India is part of the agreement on agricultural subsidies which was signed 30 years ago and he can "see before my eyes that the same thing will be done whether it's in fisheries, the same thing is sought to be done when it comes to the ecommerce moratorium".