Farm Protection Tops India & #8217;S Wto Agenda

India's priorities in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on agriculture will include the protection of domestic agricultural production and the welfare of farmers.

That would be done by conceding minimal market access and making minimal commitments, a senior commerce ministry official said.

After consulting various stakeholders, the government has decided to bring in appropriate measures to ensure food security, livelihood and rural development.

Obtaining market access for products of export interest to India were also on the agenda, said R Gopalan, joint secretary in the department of commerce.

Speaking at the Regional Conference on globalisation and agriculture: Challenges for South Asia, organised by the Research and Information System for non-aligned and other developing countries, the Institute of Policy Studies, and the International Food Policy research institute, he said India's proposal, submitted to the World Trade Organisation in November states that the country is in favour of methodologies for minimal tariff reduction and for provisions of special safeguards against import surges.

Currently, developed countries have these provisions while developing and less developed countries do not.

On domestic support, India's paper calls for steep reduction in all forms of trade distorting domestic support by developed countries and flexibility to developing countries to improve their agriculture, food and livelihood security. It also calls for immunity from challenges for Article 6.2 measures, he said.

A steep reduction in export subsidies of developed countries and a call for disclipning export credit, guarantees and insurance provided by developed countries like the United States are part of the paper.

The country is also in favour of developing countries retaining marketing and transport subsidies on exports, Gopalan said.

Speaking at the inaugural session, SP Gupta, Member, Planning Commission, said that agricultural trade liberalisation as agreed under the Uruguay Round has been undermined by developed countries through dirty tariffication.

For instance, the European Union has set tariff bindings for the base period at about 60 per cent above the actual tariff equivalents on an average. The US has set them at 45 per cent above the recent rates, he added.

After promising market access in agricultural goods in return for agreeing to widen the scope of multilateral trade negotiations to cover trade related intellectual property, trade related investment measures and trade in services during the Uruguay round, developed countries have not reduced agricultural subsidies or lowered tariff and non-tariff barriers, he said.

They are now seeking further market access in new areas like investment in return for market access they might agree to give in the area of agriculture, Gupta added.

Developed countries should demonstrate their commitment to the multilateral trading system by delivering what was already promised rather than keeping on asking for further concessions from the poorer countries, he said.

Ashok Gulati, International Food Policy Research Institute said that if India, China and the Cairns group, come together a third force can be created in the field of agricultural negotiations.

Hitherto, the negotiations have been a bilateral show between the US and the EU, he said.