INDIA CAUTIONS WTO MEMBERS OF BACKLASH IF REFORMS ARE
FORCED - FARMERS' INTERESTS THE KEY CONCERN
MINI MINISTERIAL AT MONTREAL
India has cautioned
the WTO members of a backlash in developing countries if the pace
of economic reforms being undertaken autonomously is seen to be
forced under dictates from outside. Articulating India’s point
of view at the three-day informal meeting of the Trade Ministers
of World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is being hosted by the
Government of Canada in Montreal, Mr. Arun Shourie, Minister of
Communication, IT and Disinvestment, emphasised that if the pace
of economic reforms was such as to cause dislocation or to be
perceived as an imposition from outside, then there could be a
backlash which could set back the whole process of multilateral
trade negotiations. "Stick to the (Doha) text and be cautious
in moving forward", was his message to the meeting which
is being attended by 24 member countries.
Mr. Shourie
stressed the importance of agriculture as India’s key concern
in the WTO negotiations, in particular Food Security and the livelihood
security of the vast numbers of people dependent on agriculture
in the country. Referring to the proposed Special Products of
interest to developing countries, the Minister said the selection
of such products must be on the basis of self-declaration given
that it was not possible to have multilaterally agreed criteria
applicable across the board to all countries. He pointed out that
there were about 35 crops in India on each of which around five
million people were dependent and more than 25 crops with area
of over one million hectares each. The Special Products would
need to be combined with Special Safeguard Measures with suitable
trigger mechanism in terms of both import volume and price in
order to protect the interests of farmers. There should also be
real reduction in trade distorting agricultural subsidies without
the camouflage of shifting of boxes and the key issue of non-tariff
barriers (NTBs), which hindered exports from developing countries,
should be adequately addressed, he said.
On Singapore
issues such as Investment, Mr. Shourie made it clear that there
should be explicit consensus on the modalities, in accordance
with the Doha mandate, before any negotiations as "nobody
would like to take the first step without knowing where it will
all lead". He also emphasised that Singapore issues could
not be a trade-off for negotiations on agriculture or non-agriculture
market access and that they should be treated independently as
issues to be considered on merits. Singapore issues should not
in any manner be made the focus of the meet at Cancun, the Minister
stressed.
Participating
in the session on non-agricultural market access, he said that
while India was in broad agreement with the Girard formula (which
recognises the need for differentiation and suggests certain elements
for developing modalities for the negotiations), there were several
sensitive sectors, which would need continued higher levels of
production. He mentioned in particular the sensitivities of small
scale and cottage industries; agricultural products like natural
rubber, jute and coir, which had crept into the industrial goods
during the Uruguay Round despite having all the characteristics
of primary agriculture products; and lastly, the categories of
industries which had not yet fully stabilised in the country.
In the session on
Development, Shri Shourie reiterated the importance of Implementation
and Special and Differential (S&D) Treatment issues and underlined
the need to achieve some results in this area before Cancun and
preparing a clear roadmap for dealing with these issues beyond
Cancun. He urged the negotiators to focus on the commercially
significant issues of concern to developing countries, including
in the area of services and said this was important for the credibility
of the multilateral trading system. Lack of progress in these
areas had given credence to the perception of the WTO process
as a one-way street, he pointed out.
