India to oppose inclusion of investment agreement in WTO

India will continue to put up a strong fight at the WTO against the proposed inclusion of an investment agreement — endorsed by 128 countries till now — into the main framework at the upcoming fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Cameroon in March 2026. While South Africa has shifted its stance opposing the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement, India maintains its refusal to endorse the pact, citing that it was a “non-mandated” initiative pushed as a plurilateral agreement without full consensus. India argues that investment was a non-trade issue and fell outside the ambit of the WTO. Such an agreement threatens the policy space needed by developing countries for regulating FDI and diverts focus from core WTO development issues like agriculture, as per a report.