India on Monday said collapse of appellate body of WTO’s dispute settlement system, and the reform agenda being pushed by certain developed economies could harm the interest of developing countries.

The issues were flagged by India on the first day of a  meeting of senior officials of 22 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) here.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said there are existential challenges to the multilateral rules-based trading system due to spate of unilateral measures and counter steps being taken by  certain countries.

Besides, deadlock in key areas of negotiations and impasse in the appointment of members of WTO’s appellate body are posing challenges.

“The logjam in the appellate body is a serious threat to the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO and the implementation function of the organisation,” an official statement said quoting the secretary.

He said the continuous rise in protectionist measures is vitiating the global economic environment and this “situation does not bode well for developing countries, including the LDCs (least developed countries)”.

Wadhawan said LDCs and developing countries like India would face more harm due to the impasse over appointment of members in the WTO’s appellate body, which is a critical part of trade dispute settlement system.

“There is an urgent need to engage constructively to preserve the system and come up with constructive solutions to the problem,” he said.

The delay in appointment of members in the appellate body would hamper its functioning. The US has blocked the appointment of these members. The minimum quorum (3) for functioning of this body will end on December 10, after which it will become dysfunctional.

He also said the situation in the WTO has spurred a strong discourse for reforming the WTO, which unfortunately is characterised by a complete lack of balance.      

“The reform agenda being promoted does not address the concerns of the developing countries,” he said adding the discussions in the meeting being held here give a chance to reaffirm the resolve to keep development at the centre of the reform agenda.