New Delhi, Sept. 21 -- India has proposed safeguards for plurilateral initiatives and agreements at the World Trade Organization (WTO), stressing that such arrangements should complement, rather than weaken, the multilateral trading system.

In a communication circulated on September 15, India said plurilateral cooperation could address specific issues but should not become a substitute for multilateral rule-making. It called for a common understanding of the legal and institutional implications of such initiatives to protect the integrity of the WTO framework.

Eight Principles Proposed

India said the safeguards should be anchored in the Marrakesh Agreement and core WTO principles, including consensus-based decision-making, the multilat...