Disappointed on DDA, will continue fight at Geneva: Sitharaman

Rejects claim by civil society experts that India gained nothing from WTO ministerial

Saying she was disappointed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks at Nairobi not unanimously reaffirming a commitment to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, ‘India will keep on fighting, with greater vigour’ on important issues.

In the first press briefing since the recent WTO ministerial conference, Sitharaman expressed the regret on DDA, noting this was despite support of China, the G33, Arab nations, the Africa bloc and least developed countries (LDCs). She said the fight will continue in Geneva, where WTO headquarters are located.

Critics have said India not exercising its legal options on the matter has meant DDA is effectively killed. "The lack of consensus among WTO members effectively ends DDA,” said Dinesh Abrol, convenor of a 'national working group on patent laws'. He argued the government could have taken a tough stance on the issue, as at the conference in Bali, and abstained from being party to the ministerial declaration. This might have prevented a skewed declaration from being adopted.

Earlier in the day, Sitharaman had rejected critics' claim that the Indian delegation had returned from Nairobi "empty handed". She told the Rajya Sabha: "This government has not bowed before anybody's pressure. India did not surrender before the US or the European Union (EU). Instead, we came with our hands reinforced.”

She said pursuing a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding in food items was the next objective. The issue is to go through more negotiations, with faint hope of an early resolution and no deadline. The earlier ministerial in Bali had set 2017 as the latest date for an answer.

Developed economy members at WTO — America, Canada, Australia, EU — are opposed. India has argued a large and poverty-stricken populace requires a safety net of buffer stocks in foodgrain. Those opposed say it goes against the intrinsic principle of non-interference with the market.

For a permanent solution, India had proposed either changing the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap of 10 per cent, now based on the reference price of 1986-88, or, allowing such schemes outside the purview of subsidy caps.

The minister said one of the key items at the Doha round was substantial reduction of farm subsidies by developed nations and they'd agreed to withdraw these for export promotion immediately. Developing countries like India would get till 2023 to stop these subsidies, helping it compete in the global market.

Critics say a 2023 deadline for India doing so is a minus. For instance, they say, it would worsen the problem in the sugar sector. Biswajit Dhar, an academic-critic, says developed countries have stayed silent on the more trade-distorting issue of domestic subsidies.

On a special safeguard mechanism (SSM), the minister said it was important to note WTO had recognised the right of developing nations to seek recourse through it. India would ask for preparation of a work programme on this. SSM helps developing countries to provide protection to poor farmers in a sudden surge in import or a dip in global commodity prices.

Sitharaman said the larger coalition was with India at the Nairobi talks. "India negotiated hard to ensure WTO continues to place the interest of developing countries and LDCs at the centre of its agenda," she said.