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India calls for addressing global asymmetries in cotton sector at WTO

18 Jun '25

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India calls for addressing global asymmetries in cotton sector at WTO

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India has called for addressing the long-standing asymmetries in the cotton sector between developing and developed WTO members with regard to their entitlements to the aggregate measurement of support beyond the de minimis level, a WTO note said.
It stressed on the need to deliver on long-standing mandates, including a permanent solution to the issue of special safeguard mechanism and cotton.

Terming cotton a sensitive domestic issue, India has called for addressing the long-standing asymmetries in the sector between developing and developed members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with regard to their respective entitlements to the aggregate measurement of support beyond the de minimis level, a recent report by the chairperson of the WTO committee on agriculture said.

India has reiterated the need to deliver on long-standing mandates, including finding a permanent solution to the issue of special safeguard mechanism and cotton, particularly in view of the 14^th ministerial conference being hosted by Cameroon in March next year, a domestic news agency reported.

The conference is the WTO’s highest decision-making body.

"India emphasised that cotton was an important and sensitive matter domestically with a situation similar to that of some of the other cotton-producing countries in terms of farmers' vulnerabilities since cotton is grown in arid areas by small and marginal farmers," said the report.

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