INDIA SEEKS TRANSPARENCY IN THE CANCUN PROCESS
India has said that
the preparatory process for the Cancun Ministerial Conference
of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as well as the Cancun process
should be marked by transparency and inclusiveness, in line with
the confirmation at Doha by the ministers of their collective
responsibility to ensure internal transparency and effective participation
of all the WTO member countries. In a statement at the meeting
of the WTO General Council in Geneva on 25 July giving India's
views on the " Draft Cancun Ministerial Text" circulated to member
countries, Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary, expressed
the hope that the draft text would be developed in a manner so
as to reflect fully the views of all members and that wherever
there were divergences they would be fully and faithfully expressed
in the text.
On the development
related issues, Shri Chatterjee said the issue of immediate relevance
would be the one giving effect to para 6 of the Doha Declaration
on TRIPS and Public Health and stated that India would like the
text of 16 December 2002 to be adopted unanimously before Cancun.
This would set the member countries on the right path to a productive
meeting at Cancun, as the issue was one of great humanitarian
consequence, the statement added.
On agriculture, he
said the text should reflect the current state of play and reiterate
the assurance to developing countries that their concerns would
be addressed as part of the core modalities. The statement also
pointed out that levels of ambition were not similar in agriculture
for all countries.
Referring to non-agricultural
market access (NAMA), the statement said that India looked forward
to working with the Chairman of the Negotiating Group to explore
the possibilities of coming up with modalities that would do full
justice to the Doha mandate and address the concerns of developing
countries. It also said that the starting point of the negotiations
in this area was the Uruguay Round since it reflected the rights
and obligations agreed upon by all members.
The statement said
that the text on services negotiations seemed to lay emphasis
on deadlines in market access negotiations and suggested that
it should also focus on the quality of initial offers, particularly
regarding improvements in sectors and modes of export interest
to developing countries.
Expressing disappointment
that the draft text does not specify a clear deadline for completion
of work on strengthening of the Special and Differential provisions
in the existing agreements, the statement said that India would
like to see a very clear deadline specified for completion of
the work which should focus on agreement specific proposals with
a view to addressing them meaningfully.
On Singapore issues,
the statement pointed out that the Doha mandate clearly stated
that negotiations on these issues would depend on a decision at
Cancun by explicit consensus on the modalities for the negotiations.
The modalities would have to be substantive and go beyond the
elements identified in the Doha Declaration. These are sensitive
issues and not all members are convinced of the need to negotiate
these issues in the WTO, the statement said, adding that for a
considered decision on these issues it was absolutely essential
for each member to be fully aware of the commitments and obligations
arising from multilateral agreements and the benefits to member
countries. This would be possible only if we can come up with
substantive modalities, the statement said.
Earlier, at the General
Council session on 24 July, Shri K.M. Chandrasekhar, India's Ambassador
to the WTO, presented a paper on an important market access issue
in textiles, co-sponsored by Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Egypt,
Guatemala, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Macao, Maldives,
China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, urging the WTO to ensure
that there would be no reduction in effective quota access for
developing countries by denial of utilisation in 2004 of the carry
forward quota for 2005 when the textile quota regime ends as it
would adversely affect exports from developing countries. Presenting
another paper on behalf of developing countries, Shri Chandrasekhar
outlined a proposal for a specific short term dispensation in
favour of developing countries in the form of a grace period of
two years during which no anti-dumping investigations on imports
of textile and clothing products from developing countries shall
be initiated.
