JAITLEY CONSULTS LEFT PARTIES
ON WTO ISSUES
Continuing the process of consultations
with all stakeholders including political parties in the run-up
to the Cancun Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) scheduled to be held next month, Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister
of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice, held consultations
here this morning with senior representatives of the Left Parties
on WTO issues. Among those who attended were representatives of
the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - Shri Rup Chand Pal, MP;
Shri Tarit Baran Topdar, MP; and Shri Lakshman Seth, MP - and
from the Communist Party of India (CPI) Shri Prabodh Panda, MP.
Shri Satyabrata Mukherjee, Minister of State for Commerce &
Industry and Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary were also
present.
The Minister agreed with the MPs that WTO was a national issue,
not just a political issue and that building up of an informed
opinion would facilitate effective participation based on national
consensus in the key areas of interest to India. Shri Jaitley
said that he saw a national consensus cutting across party lines
in areas where the country's interests would have to be safeguarded,
especially in agriculture and
investment.
Both CPI and CPI (M) said that the critical issues in the negotiations
would be agriculture, services, Singapore issues and implementation
issues. In agriculture, they expressed concern over the continuance
of exceptionally high-levels of agricultural subsidy being given
by the developed countries and urged the government to press for
the creation of a Development Box or Livelihood Box. While CPI
(M) said that education should be excluded from offer in the services
negotiations as "rampant commercialisation" would harm our own
educational system, CPI expressed the view that both education
and healthcare should be excluded from the services negotiations.
CPI & CPI (M) expressed opposition to Singapore issues - especially
investment - being negotiated in the WTO. They also expressed
concern over lack of progress in implementation and special &
differential (S&D) treatment issues which were aimed at improving
market access for the developing countries.
The Left parties stressed the need to mobilise support of like-minded
parties especially with Asian countries including China, with
a view to forming pressure groups on critical issues in the WTO
as also the need for strengthening India's economic diplomacy
in the area of multilateral trade. One member suggested that there
should be a review paper on what the country had gained from the
WTO regime.
