KEEP DOHA AGENDA FULLY INTACT, ARUN JAITLEY TELLS OECD
Shri Arun Jaitley,
Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice,
has called for a strong message from the developed world represented
by the OECD that the development focus of the Doha agenda will
be fully intact. In a statement that he made to the OECD (Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development) Ministerial Council
meeting held recently in Paris, to which India has been invited
as a non-member participant, he stressed the need for satisfactory
resolution of all pending issues including those relating to TRIPS
and Public Health, Implementation issues and issues relating
to Special & Differential Treatment before the Cancun Ministerial
Conference. Shri Jaitley also underlined that the agenda
for the Cancun Ministerial Conference should not be overloaded.
Attempts should be made to resolve many of the issues before the
Ministerial Conference itself, he said.
Shri Jaitley made
it clear that for developing countries, further progress in
the negotiations would hinge on satisfactory resolution of these
development issues, viz., Special & Differential and Implementation
Issues and TRIPs & Public Health. "It must be recognised
there are political pressures within developing countries arising
out of failure to meet deadlines. We can recover lost ground to
some extent if these issues are addressed and resolved before
Cancun. The Chairman of Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC)
and the Chairman of the General Council have been making efforts
to resolve the Implementation and S&D Issues. Constructive
engagement by all Members would be important. The need of the
hour is a strong message from the developed world represented
by the OECD that the development focus of the Doha Agenda is very
much intact", he said.
Addressing the OECD
session on Trade Issues, Shri Jaitley observed that the Doha Work
Programme was proceeding at two speeds. "On issues of interest
to the developed countries, there is an attempt to make good progress
or set high ambitions as in the area of industrial tariffs or
in some services sectors. The second aspect that we see is that
while at the Ministerial level, there is a recognition to provide
policy space and greater flexibilities for developing countries,
this does not always percolate to the technical level discussions.
In the Doha Declaration which has been projected as the Doha Development
Agenda, it has been clearly noted that the Ministers place the
needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the
Doha Work Programme. But when the issues go to the level of Committees
or Negotiating Groups where the actual negotiations take place
the scene is different. The developed country negotiators strive
to get the best deal for themselves and avoid meeting developing
country issues on tenuous technical grounds or are willing to
consider flexibilities only in terms of longer transition periods.
Attempts are also made to divert the discussions by also calling
for upfront differentiation and graduation among developing countries".
In the agriculture
negotiations, Shri Jaitley has said that India remains deeply
concerned by attempts to set aside the special consideration necessary
for developing countries to deal with their large and poor rural
communities despite an explicit negotiating mandate and an extensively
documented need to urgently improve the living conditions of the
poor people in the world. The OECD study on agricultural policies
itself concludes that agricultural support and protection provided
in OECD countries depresses rural income in developing countries.
"Therefore, any further market access commitments by developing
countries like India must be tempered in order to enable them
to safeguard food and livelihood security of their rural poor
and promote Rural Development through adequate protection at the
border. In addition, developing countries must be provided sufficient
flexibility in applying safeguards to address different situations",
he said. The modalities on subsidy and support must effectively
redress the adverse impact of developed country policies on developing
countries by substantially reducing subsidy and support and prevent
a mere shifting of support to circumvent commitments. Moreover,
there may be little to be gained by reducing tariffs, if non-tariff
barriers, including those created through the guise of sanitary
and phytosanitary measures remain, Shri Jaitley cautioned and
added that establishing modalities in Agriculture before Cancun
would significantly improve resolution of many issues before Cancun.
