Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma warned on Monday that countries should refrain from protectionism for a global recovery, including a new form of "green" protectionism.
"Protectionism is a global bad," Sharma said in his remarks to a plenary session of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s seventh ministerial
conference, which started Monday on how to revive the work of the multilateral trade body.
The conference is taking place as world trade is emerging from its worst contraction since the Great Depression in 1930s due to the impact of the financial and economic crisis.
World trade will shrink by more than 10 percent in volume terms this year, according to the WTO.
"Protectionism will be counterproductive, prolong recession and delay recovery," Sharma said, adding it would benefit everybody by lowering barriers to trade Sharma in particular voiced concern over "green" protectionism.
Some developed countries, including the United States, warned they would impose carbon duties on goods from countries that would not commit to a binding target of reducing emissions, a move decried by developing countries as a new form of protectionism.
"This is dangerous to trade and only create fresh tension in global trade," he said.
The WTO ministerial conference is due to have discussion on the role of trade in the global fight against climate change as the Copenhagen meeting
is just around the corner.
World governments are due to meet next week in the Denmark capital on a new deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions, a successor to the Kyoto Protocol
which expires in 2012.
Ahead of the WTO conference, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also warned developed countries against pursuing "protectionist policies under a green label."