India, Brazil trying to rope in others to back proposal for NAMA negotiations

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

New Delhi, June 19: Argentina, Brazil and India are trying to persuade other developing countries to back their proposal for the non-agriculture market access (NAMA) negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) tabled last month.

The proposal, while being appreciated by a number of developing countries, was strongly opposed by developed countries and some Latin American countries on the grounds that it was inequitable and did not provide adequate market access.

Speaking to FE, commerce ministry officials said that despite the disapproval of developed economies including the US, the EU, Japan and Australia, the three countries were not prepared to take back their proposal or modify it substantially.

On the contrary, Argentina, Brazil and India are trying to persuade some developing countries to officially back their proposal (referred to as the ABI proposal) at the WTO.

Talks are on in Geneva among officials and we are receiving encouraging responses from a number of countries, an official said.

While Indian officials refused to name the countries which might join the ABI trio, countries including Malaysia, Kenya, Trinidad & Tobago, Egypt and Philippines have supported the proposal in the NAMA meetings held in Geneva.

The ABI proposal suggested a ‘Swiss-type’ tariff reduction formula based on the average tariffs of members. It would enable countries with higher average bound tariffs to pare tariff less steeply that countries with lower average bound tariff.

In other words, developing countries which have steeper average bound tariffs than developed countries would be the beneficiaries.