Overview

• At the SCO Trade Ministers' Meeting in Vladivostok on September 6, India warned against weaponising export measures and called for calibrated, transparent use to protect trust in commerce.
• New Delhi urged coordinated action to diversify and de-risk supply and production chains through wider geographic spread, interoperable logistics and predictable market access.
• Citing persistent imbalances, India sought better market access, cooperation on standards and streamlined facilitation, with context provided by a roughly $100 billion 2024–25 trade deficit with China and earlier curbs on rare earth magnets and fertilisers.
• India proposed SCO workstreams on the digital economy and showcased its Digital Public Infrastructure—UPI, India Stack and ONDC—as low-cost, replicable tools to expand MSME participation and cross-border trade.
• India advocated a development-centred WTO agenda and cautioned against discriminatory climate-linked trade measures, while noting that the Vladivostok discussions produced programmatic proposals rather than binding mechanisms.