India asks US, EU to lead the way for successful WTO talks

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Ahead of the release of revised negotiating texts on agriculture and industrial goods at the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Round negotiations, India on Friday asked the US and the European Union to show leadership for the successful conclusion of the talks.

India also warned that if the Round fails to deliver on its development promise and gets converted into yet another market access Round for the benefit of the wealthier nations, the current efforts being made by India and many other developing countries to conclude it within the next few months, will not have much chance of success.

“Major trading nations such as the US and the EC have to display leadership and not lay the onus for the Round’s success only on developing Members,” commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said here in a statement. India has been demanding that the US and EU must drastically cut their “huge trade distorting” farm subsidies.

He said the negotiations are delicately poised currently and whether the Round reaches a conclusion by the end of 2008 or moves into its eighth year will depend on a number of factors. The most important factor, he said, is whether the member countries that have hitherto largely enjoyed the gains of trade liberalisation are willing to make their legitimate contributions to fulfill the core objective of the Round, which has been termed a

Development Round.

Terming Agriculture as the core of the Doha Round, Nath stated that it was vital for India to first secure the livelihoods of its poor and vulnerable farmers before it could move on to any other issue.

Towards this end, it was imperative to settle the issue of Special Products (on which there would be no duty cut by the developing countries) and the Special Safeguard Mechanism well before the final run up to the modalities on Agriculture and Non Agriculture Market Access(NAMA or industrial goods). “This subject which is just not tradeable for India,” he said.

Drawing attention to the protracted efforts being made by a group of six members to provide comfort to the developed importing countries on Sensitive Products, the Minister said, “While flexibilities and carve outs are sought to be obtained on Sensitive Products for some countries, on Special Products (SPs), we are seeing an attempt to derail the issue by bringing in a new concept of transparency.”