The Hindu Business Line : India batting well at Geneva

THE Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, was about to brief the Indian media in Bangkok about the successful outcome in the talks with Thailand on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) when his mobile phone rang.

"The text is unacceptable?" he asked his caller from Geneva, who was briefing him on the progress of the WTO talks on agriculture issues. He was not on the winning wicket there. Not as yet.

"The call came at the wrong time," he said, embarrassed by the intrusion. But it was evident that India was not doing too badly in Geneva for all that.

For the past four days, India has been in consultations with the new group of five - the US, the European Union (EU), Australia, India and Brazil - to resolve the deadlock between the developed and developing countries on agriculture.

Mr Kamal Nath said that India was insistent that the US and the EU could not continue to subsidise their farmers to the tune of $300 billion. This was keeping farm goods prices artificially low and putting Indian exports at a disadvantage.

The EU was agreeable to reducing the subsidies, but the US was not, he said.

Mr Kamal Nath also said that he was returning to Geneva later in the day to take further part in the negotiations.