Pre-Hong Kong talks with stakeholders on WTO begun

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New Delhi, June 29: The government has started consultations with various stakeholders, including civil society organisations, industry associa- tions and other experts, in the run-up to the next WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong later this year.

As part of these discussions, a workshop on non-agriculture market access organised by the commerce ministry and Unctad has concluded that India should try to achieve a balance in the gains and losses from negotiations in non-agriculture market access, agriculture and services, while aiming to gain market access on all fronts in the WTO. The participants said that the ambition of developed countries to reduce Indian applied tariffs reflected their double standards, according to an official release.

Civil society organisations urged the government to make an assessment of the effects of liberalisation before agreeing to further open up the economy.

The participants also said that for small and medium enterprises, which are the backbone of India’s export effort, greater market opening in other developing countries was important, the release said.