India on Monday expressed reservations over the facilitator-led process in the World Trade Organisation to discuss issues on agriculture, saying that it would potentially undermine ministerial mandates and take negotiations backwards, an official said. The issue came up during a meeting of Heads of Delegation (HoDs) dedicated to agriculture in Geneva at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The official said that India has stressed on the urgency to address mandated matters like public stockholding (PSH), special safeguard mechanism (SSM), and cotton issues in dedicated sessions, separate from broader agriculture negotiations. "India noted that the facilitator-led process would potentially undermine Ministerial mandates and it would take negotiations backwards. It also raised concerns about transparency, neutrality, and inclusive discussion in the facilitator model and warned against creating new pillars, as it would complicate negotiations further," the Geneva-based official said. I
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