Sharma lambasts developed countries

Says Bali package not balanced

A day before the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks on a global trade deal are to start, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma lambasted the developed countries’ commitment on agriculture reforms, accusing them of not doing enough to reduce subsidised exports, food subsidies and tariff rate quota administration.

“Overall, the Bali package taken as a whole cannot be considered to be balanced. We should not be asked to peg farm support calculations on prices, which were prevailing 30 years ago. Updating WTO rules under the Agreement on Agriculture would rectify inherent flaws,” Sharma said. This emerged from a meeting of the G20 coalition of developing nations, which include India and Brazil,  held on Monday here on the sidelines of the ninth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC9).

The meeting, which saw considerable fire-fighting from all sides, discussed the three main issues of export competition, agriculture subsidies and tariff rate quotas.  “We strongly believe the time has come to remove the disparity in agricultural trade rules biased in favour of developed countries. The commitment by developed countries on export competition and tariff rate quotas is mere lip service devoid of any substance and lacks a binding commitment,” Sharma said after the G20 ministerial meeting.

The G20 coalition was instrumental in pushing the agriculture reforms negotiations at the WTO. However, a number of countries have introduced a slew of new measures aimed at restricting exports, especially of certain raw materials and agricultural commodities. These include export taxes on agricultural products in response to rising prices, and export quotas on metals and mineral products to secure domestic supply and address resource depletion.

Developed countries had committed to doing away with export subsidies on their agricultural produce by 2013. This was undertaken during the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration in 2005.

Sharma also held a separate meeting with WTO’s director-general Roberto Azevêdo and apprised him of India’s position on food security and removing the cap on agriculture subsidies.

 

"Overall the Bali Package taken as a whole cannot be considered to be balanced…We should not be asked to peg farm support calculations on prices which were prevailing thirty years ago. Updating WTO rules under the Agreement on Agriculture would rectify inherent flaws,” Sharma said. End