PARIS: India has identified the restoration of the dispute settlement mechanism as the first priority for WTO members and called for maintaining special treatment for poor and developing countries.After a meeting of trade ministers here, commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal also reiterated India’s opposition to bringing plurilateral initiatives such as investment facilitation under the ambit of the multilateral body. India has argued that the China-backed proposal for investment facilitation will reduce policy space for govt and is meant to pursue Beijing’s investment agenda.

“Ideally, issues that have been mandated by the WTO and are within the trade framework should get priority and should be the first issues to be resolved,” the minister told reporters after the meeting.At the mini-ministerial meet of trade ministers, Goyal urged other ministers to bring back the focus on issues such as agriculture, which have been agreed to by the membership in the past but a decision has been pending for more than a decade. He also called for removal of non-tariff barriers.“We have all resolved to collectively work to strengthen the working of the WTO, to ensure the core principles are respected and work towards global good and global growth in trade,” he said, while dismissing concerns of WTO facing an “existential crisis”.Putting in place the dispute settlement mechanism is seen to be at the heart of reinvigorating WTO amid a series of blows by the US during successive presidential tenures, starting with Barack Obama. The US has blocked appointments to the appellate body for resolving disputes, rendering it useless.