Sharma says no discussion on food security at WTO

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Friday said the government is engaged in negotiating food subsidies given in the form of administered price, or minimum support price (MSP), to farmers at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and that it was not linked to the recently-announced National Food Security Act.

"What we give to our poor people is our right and that is insulated from any multilateral negotiations. What we are negotiating in Bali is the price we give to farmers as MSP," Sharma told reporters here, apprising of the decision taken by the Cabinet committee on WTO-related matters, that was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Thursday. He added India's stand on the food subsidy programme was "sacrosanct, non- negotiable."
 

Sharma said that the government had agreed to the interim measure or the 'Peace Clause' that had emerged from technical-level negotiations at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.