Walk the talk

Global trade architecture is changing, and India can't opt out

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit, held in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India’s position regarding the importance of open and frictionless trade and the vital nature of the World Trade Organization (WTO). New Delhi has traditionally supported multilateral over plurilateral trading arrangements as the former are in India’s best interests. Speaking at the summit on Friday, Mr Modi hit out at unilateralism and trade protectionism, and said there was a need for a rules-based, anti-discriminatory and all-inclusive WTO-centred multilateral trading system, amid the raging trade war between the US and China. Mr Modi’s stand