India, China discuss strengthening trade cooperation at WTO meeting

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao at the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference. China expressed readiness to deepen trade cooperation with India to act as a 'ballast' for their bilateral relationship.

India, China Ministers Meet at WTO to Deepen Trade Ties

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on the sidelines of the World Trade Organisation's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), aimed at strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Informing about the meeting, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India, in a social media post on Friday, stated that Wang Wentao met Goyal during the conference and expressed willingness to deepen engagement between the two countries. It stated, "China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry of India, during the 14th WTO ministerial conference. China stands ready to work with India to fully leverage the role of bilateral economic and trade cooperation as a ballast."

Goyal on India's Trade Strategy and Key WTO Outcomes

The WTO 14th Ministerial Conference was held from March 26 to 30, 2026, in Yaounde, Cameroon, bringing together ministers from across the world to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the global trading system and to shape the future agenda of the WTO.

India Pushing for Preferential Access

Highlighting outcomes from recent WTO Ministerial engagements, Goyal on Thursday described it as very intense, spanning four days and covering seven critical areas, including WTO reform, fisheries subsidies, investment facilitation, e-commerce, agriculture and broader developmental concerns. Minister Goyal asserted that India is pushing for "preferential access" and the "best possible deal" in its ongoing trade engagement with the United States, underlining that the country is currently in a "very sweet spot" among emerging economies.

"Our approach is that India should get preferential access, market access and, having got the best deal compared to any of our competitors or any other emerging or developing economy, we are sitting on a very sweet spot," Goyal said, projecting confidence in India's economic positioning.

He added that as the world's fastest-growing major economy, India offers a compelling India opportunity that global investors are expected to increasingly tap.

Key Agreements at the Conference

Among the key outcomes, member nations agreed to strengthen the integration of smaller economies into the multilateral trading system, with a focus on improving trade logistics, connectivity and border processes.

Progress was also achieved on fisheries subsidies, particularly in tackling overcapacity, overfishing and illegal fishing, with consensus reached and ratified by participating countries.

India's Extensive Diplomatic Outreach

On the sidelines of the WTO Ministerial, Goyal held extensive diplomatic outreach, including 12 multilateral and 24 bilateral meetings aimed at strengthening trade partnerships. (ANI)

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