The Hindu Business Line : India wants Doha talks to address development issues

The Minister emphasised that agriculture in developing countries like India is not commerce, and criticised the demand of some members for "real" market access in agriculture.

New Delhi , Nov. 7

WITH barely a month to go for the sixth Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the real issues remaining nebulous, India made a plea to make the development issue occupy the centre-stage in the multilateral trade talks.

In a letter addressed to 148 member countries of the WTO, which the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, released at a news conference in London before the meeting of the Group 4 comprising the US, European Union, India and Brazil, India reminded that the negotiations launched at Doha in 2001 was called the "development round" and not a "market access round." Hence, Mr Nath said, "Our endeavour should be to ensure success at Hong Kong without glossing over the critical aspects — aspects which form the very basis of a development round or else there will be no success."

Mr Nath emphasised that agriculture in developing countries like India is not commerce, and criticised the demand of some members for "real" market access in agriculture. The latter, he said, undermined the policy space for developing countries and the agreement to make special and differential (S&D) treatment for developing countries integral to all aspects of negotiations as a result of the Doha mandate and the July framework.

Stating that tariff reduction is not the only pre-condition for market access, Mr Nath said, "For real market access to accrue, it is also necessary that export subsidies, domestic support and non-tariff barriers are eliminated." He said that India remained committed to the G-20 offer of October 12, which called for proportionately lower commitments by developing countries and satisfaction on the effectiveness and operational content of special products and special safeguard mechanism to enable developing countries to meet their food security, livelihood security and rural development needs without let or hindrance. India also hailed the proposal of the African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) countries that had come forward, despite their known capacity constraints.

On non-agricultural market access (NAMA), Mr Nath voiced concern over some recent proposals suggesting norms for tariff reduction from applied rates, stating that these were extraneous to the mandate. He also rejected any single co-efficient formula for developed and developing countries as a complete non-starter.

Commenting on the slow progress of the services negotiations, he noted that the architecture of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) provided flexibility to developing countries to undertake commitments in services according to their ability and needs. He said the proposals based on quantitative targets on a one-size-fits all formula was not acceptable.

Mr Nath said that developing countries had sought amendments in the TRIPS (trade related intellectual property rights) agreement to prevent bio-piracy of biological material and to prevent misappropriation of their traditional knowledge. "We also need to ensure that the flexibilities that were agreed to for arriving at a decision to address public health issues in August 2003 are observed in letter and in spirit to deliver development goals and for that we support an amendment in the TRIPS Agreement to bring in these flexibilities."

Substantive progress must also be made on the constructive proposals put forth by developing countries on development and implementation issues, he said.

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