India has forcefully
articulated the need to restore the development agenda as the
central focus of WTO negotiations, as mandated in the Doha Ministerial
Declaration. All the major WTO issues were reviewed at the informal
meeting of the Ministers of Trade and Agriculture of about 20
World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries held in Tokyo
from 14-16 February 2003, at the invitation of the Government
of Japan. Participating in the discussions, Mr. Arun Jaitley,
Minister of Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice, Government
of India, strongly expressed India's concern over the slow progress
in the area of development-related issues such as, TRIPS and
Public Health, Implementation issues and Special and Differential
Treatment issues and categorically stated that the resolution
of these issues would be a sine qua non for the success of the
next Ministerial Conference of the WTO at Cancun in September
2003. India was strongly supported on this by the other participating
developing countries at the Tokyo meet, including Brazil, Kenya,
Costa Rica, Nigeria, Lesotho and Senegal. Participants from
many developing countries also acknowledged the need to adhere
to the deadlines for making headway in the negotiations. Consequently,
the Ministers resolved to make a fresh effort to achieve progress
in these areas, which are of vital interest to the developing
countries.
An important issue
discussed in Tokyo was the first draft of the modalities on
the negotiations in agriculture. As anticipated, there were
sharp differences between the EC and the US and the Cairns group
on this draft. Mr. Ajit Singh, the Indian Minister for Agriculture
strongly emphasized the highest priority that India would give
to the protection of her farmers and their well being. As far
as India is concerned, there are some positive features in the
draft in the form of provisions for Special and Differential
Treatment for developing countries in the area of agriculture.
However, India has reservations on the proposed reduction in
the bound rate of tariffs and therefore, while noting some of
the positive aspects, the Agriculture Minister pointed out the
lack of flexibility that India had on the market access in agriculture.
In respect of market
access in non-agricultural products, Mr. Jaitley highlighted
India's proactive agenda in consonance with our domestic policy
of autonomous liberalisation. He strongly advocated increased
market access for products of export interest to India such
as textiles, leather and other goods. He also emphatically flagged
the need to protect certain domestic sectors and to ensure that
our revenue needs are not compromised because of liberalisation.
In the services sector, India has expressed its strong interest.
Most Ministers at the Tokyo meet appreciated India's aggressive
approach in the services negotiations and took note of the fact
that India has made more than 60 requests of other countries
for market access in services, which makes India by far the
most active amongst the developing countries. Mr. Jaitley expressed
India's strong interest in the movement of natural persons as
service providers and asked for greater liberalisation in this
mode of delivery of services.
On Singapore issues,
namely investment, competition policy, government procurement
and trade facilitation, Mr. Jaitley pointed out that these issues
did not fall within the purview of the WTO, which should focus
on trade related issues, while the EC, Japan and some other
countries pressed for the inclusion of these issues in the WTO
agenda. India also called for stronger disciplines in anti-dumping
and anti-subsidy in order to ensure that market access obtained
through reduction in tariffs and removal of non-tariff barriers
is not negated through protectionist trade defence measures.
Looking to the
future, India has suggested a six-point road map to Cancun.
Speaking on the Session on the Road to Cancun at the Tokyo meet,
Mr. Jaitley has proposed that the first priority should be to
restore trust and confidence in the WTO system and said that
this would be possible through early resolution of the pending
development related issues - TRIPs and Public Health, progress
in the areas of Special and Differential Treatment and Implementation
issues. "This can only take place if there is active engagement
from the developed countries during the negotiations", he said.
Secondly, the Director General of the WTO in his capacity as
Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) could consider
a possible road map for the months ahead with clear deadlines.
Thirdly, as a confidence building measure, the issue of internal
transparency in the negotiations at the WTO should be resolved.
Fourth, there should be a clear focus on achieving future deadlines
as laid down in the Doha Ministerial Declaration. In this context,
India has pointed out that since agriculture is a priority sector
for all countries, satisfactory resolution with respect to removal
of distortions in global agricultural trade can take place only
if both domestic support and export subsidies are substantially
reduced or eliminated in the developed countries. "Market Access
in the developing countries needs to be carefully calibrated
so that social tensions in the rural areas do not occur. Adequate
bound rates and special safeguards must be available to prevent
surge of imports", Mr. Jaitley stressed. Fifthly, in order to
avoid an overload of agenda at Cancun, completion of as much
work as possible and as much consensus as possible in Geneva
would be necessary so that only the most important issues could
go to the Ministers for resolution at Cancun. And, finally,
that there could be small meetings of Ministers and senior officials
to focus on specific pending issues at Geneva rather than taking
up overall reviews of work. Mr. Jaitley warned against slippages
in the deadlines prescribed at Doha and hoped that substantive
progress would be achieved in the content of the negotiations.
