Ahead of the World Trade Organisation?s ministerial meeting expected later this month to take forward the Doha Round, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath will engage in crucial talks with US trade representative Susan Schwab in New York on May 7-8. ?We hope the US will comprehend India?s sensitivities in agriculture and the concerns of our infant industry and small scale industries,? Nath said about the impending talks.
?India wants to be a part of the solution but the package has to be an equitable one. We do understand that with the election atmosphere in the US, the space available for negotiations may not be enough,? Nath said. India has already checked the positions of G-20 (a group of developing countries with interests in agriculture), Nama-11 (a group of developing countries with similar interests in industrial goods) and least developed countries (LDCs) at a recent United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) conference at Accra in Ghana. Nath had also met WTO director-general Pascal Lamy.
?It is clear from my talks with the G-20 and Nama-11 members that the developmental content will form the basis of the conclusion of the Doha Round talks,? Nath said. Incidentally, the minister is going to Indonesia on Saturday for the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) economic ministers? conference, where apart from discussing the proposed India-Asean Free Trade Agreement, the final positions of Asean countries regarding the WTO talks would also become clearer.
An empowered group of ministers (eGoM) had on Wednesday cleared India?s stance on the Doha Round multilateral discussions. It ratified India?s position on agriculture, industrial goods and services. The government had earlier apprised the parliamentary consultative committee meeting of commerce ministry, besides taking inputs from the committee of secretaries, state governments, industry and other stakeholders during wide-ranging consultations.
Sources said Indian negotiators were keeping a close watch to ensure that India was not isolated at the multi-lateral talks and also the extent to which it could compromise to make sure that most of its demands were met with in the final outcome. Meanwhile, the chairs of the negotiations groups on agriculture and industrial goods would release the respective revised texts by mid-May, which is widely regarded as the final texts.
India has threatened that it would not support any agreement that allows ?zeroing?, a US-backed rule allowing imposition of higher anti-dumping duties. India is also against a move by rich countries to disallow subsidies to poor fishing communities using small motorboats on the pretext that it would result in environmental damage. ?This is an issue that critically impinges upon the livelihood of millions of poor fisherfolk in India and other countries. It cannot be left unaddressed,? Nath had said earlier.