15th February, 2003
Ministry of Commerce & Industry  


ARUN JAITLEY ARTICULATES INDIA'S CONCERNS AT TOKYO MINI-MINISTERIAL

GAINS IN MODALITIES FOR AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATIONS, BUT INDIA PRESSES FOR MORE IN AREA OF MARKET ACCESS


Mr. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice, has strongly articulated India's development concerns on the eve of the Informal Meeting of WTO Ministers, and reiterated the importance of putting development at the centre stage of the ongoing multilateral trade negotiations as envisaged in the Doha Ministerial Declaration of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In his intervention at the Working Dinner of Trade Ministers in Tokyo last night, he cautioned that the success of the post-Doha negotiations in areas of critical importance to India and other developing countries such as agriculture would depend essentially on restoring the development focus.

Responding to the first draft of the modalities on agriculture which has been circulated among the Ministers on the eve of the mini Ministerial, Mr. Jaitley said that the modalities sought to give a certain direction to the future WTO negotiations on agriculture. The draft appears to have taken into account some of the problems expressed by developing countries such as the need for special and differential treatment; retention of de minimus level at 10% for developing countries, new flexibility for maintaining domestic production capacity for food security and livelihood security purposes and the overall thrust on maintaining existing flexibilities as well as to expand such flexibility wherever needed, to meet the specific requirements of developing countries in the vital area of agriculture which was a source of livelihood for 650 million people, constituting 65% of India's population. However, Mr. Jaitley made it clear that India continued to have reservations on the proposals in respect of market access in agriculture in the first draft as market access problems faced by countries like India with a huge population dependent on agriculture would have be more satisfactorily addressed. "This is of course only a first draft and we would have the opportunity to make more improvements. We look forward to further constructive negotiations (in this area)", he said. Safeguarding the interests of farmers - specially the marginal and resource poor farmers - would be the paramount consideration governing India's approach to the agriculture negotiations in the WTO, Mr. Jaitley stressed.

In the field of market access for non-agricultural products, Mr. Jaitley said that substantial progress could be achieved. While stating that India had been in the process of autonomously rationalising tariffs, Mr. Jaitley underlined the need to take into account the revenue needs and development requirements of the negotiations for non-agricultural market access. In this context, he specifically pointed to the fact that "because of low commodity prices, the terms of trade in respect of primary products of developing countries have been turning against them. It is time the WTO devised measures designed to stabilise and improve conditions of world markets in these products, including in particular, measures designed to attain stable, equitable and remunerative prices, as provided in Article XXXVI.4 of the GATT 1994."


The Minister said that in services India had a positive agenda where "we are looking for more gains in mode 4 and hope that the developed countries would make positive commitments in the movement of professionals, de-linked from immigration. This is an area which should be looked at creatively in the opening up of the service sector".

On the Singapore issues - Trade and Investment, Trade and competition Policy and Government Procurement - the Minister noted that while the Working Groups had been engaged in constructive discussions throughout last year, many doubts regarding these issues still remained and more discussions were required. "We are not convinced of the need for binding rules on these issues and that too in a trade negotiating forum like the WTO", he said.

Recalling the discussions at the Sydney mini-Ministerial held three months ago, the Minister noted that in most areas of the Doha agenda progress had been elusive with deadlines being missed, particularly the deadlines on Trips and Public Health, implementation and Special and Differential Treatment issues. "Unless the work programme evolves in a balanced fashion, addressing these different concerns, it would be extremely difficult for countries like India to convince our domestic constituency of the success of the development component of the Doha Agenda", the Minister cautioned.

Thanking the Government of Japan for the initiative taken to hold the mini-Ministerial, Mr. Jaitley hoped that the exchange of views at this meeting would provide the required impetus to the preparatory process and fianlisation of agreed guidelines for the Cancun Ministerial Meeting of the WTO Conference scheduled to be held in September 2003.