WTO MC12: India seeks a carve out to export foodgrains to poor countries

India proposes that we carve out an exemption for govt-to-govt purchases between countries so that we can support countries in distress, particularly during some humanitarian crisis, said Goyal

On the second day of the World Trade Organization's 12th ministerial conference (MC12), India made a strong pitch to allow exports of foodgrains from public stocks on a government-to-government basis for humanitarian purposes.

At one of the WTO sessions, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India believes that there are limitations of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which has hardly contributed to world food security in any significant way.

"For instance, three-four years ago, all that WFP could procure in a whole year was only 3 MT of foodgrains", Goyal said. Even in 2021, the WFP