India today expressed fear that the WTO's Doha Development Agenda (DDA) appears to be in "jeopardy" and stressed that history will "judge us (WTO ministers) poorly" if inequities in global trade are allowed to perpetuate.
"The reform process, which was started after the Uruguay Round in the form of the Doha Round, appears to be in jeopardy. Negotiations have spilled over in Nairobi, which makes matters very complicated," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
"The manner and haste with which important negotiating meetings are being convened does not inspire confidence," she added.
Also Read
The minister was addressing the plenary at the 10th ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) being attended by 160 trade ministers of the member countries of the global trade body.
"As trade ministers, history will judge us poorly if the outcomes of the DDA perpetuate inequities in global trade," she said, adding that it was vital to keep the aspirations of millions of people living in the developing world in clear focus.
India was prepared to constructively contribute in all areas within the framework of the negotiating mandates and the core principles of the WTO, she said, adding "we must act with a sense of common purpose and urgency".
She stressed that this ministerial must clearly re-affirm the DDA and all ministerial declarations and decisions taken since 2001, when the Doha Round was launched.
"These are all important. Let us not waste time negotiating which of these we should reaffirm and welcome," she added.
Sitharaman said it is everybody's duty to safeguard the
legitimate interests of poor farmers and the food security of hundreds of millions in developing countries.
"We cannot continue with the rhetoric of a development agenda without even a reasonable attempt to address issues which are of primary concern to developing economies," she said.
For decades, a handful of farm lobbies of some countries have shaped the discourse and determined the destiny of millions of subsistence farmers of the developing countries, she said.
"The reduction in the massive subsidisation of the farm sector in developed countries which was the clear cut mandate of the DDA is now not even a subject matter of discussion today, leave aside serious negotiations," she added.
Sitharaman said that due to these concerns, the G-33 has strongly argued the case for an effective special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for developing countries and for changing the rules relating to public stockholding for food security purposes.
"These are not new issues. We are disappointed at the cavalier manner in which these issues are being pushed into the future. On the other hand, there is a sudden inexplicable zeal to harvest export competition. On this, we are told that there is convergence when in fact, there appears to be little," she said.
Developed countries and few developing nations are pushing to eliminate export support given by countries like India to boost their agriculture exports.
On the other hand, India is pitching for SSM which would help in protecting the interest of poor farmers in case of sudden surge in imports or dip in prices.
(REOPENS FGN 13)
Expressing regret, Sitharaman said long standing issues of interest to a large number of developing countries are being "put aside for the future" and "new issues of recent vintage are being taken up with unusual enthusiasm".
Agricultural reforms remain the corner stone of the DDA negotiations and the WTO must deliver on all three pillars of the negotiations in a balanced manner, she said.
She pointed out that farmers of developing countries cannot compete against heavily subsidised farmers in developed nations.
Further, emphasising on the importance of liberalisation of norms in services sector, Sitharaman said the sector is equally important for developing countries for growth as well as job creation.
"Besides the accelerated flow of goods, easier flow of services is, therefore, equally important. The liberalisation of services trade, particularly in Modes 1 and 4, needs to figure high on the development agenda," she said.
The Mode 1 negotiations pertain to business process outsourcing, which are generally known as cross-border services like doctors providing consultation to a patient in the US sitting in India through e-mail. Under this, India wanted these services to be totally liberalised so that there were no restrictions on carrying them out.
Under Mode 4 negotiations, which provides for movement of natural persons, India has been demanding that the bound rate for granting visas for professionals should be substantially increased.
She said that a special initiative on services sector is needed.
"To achieve this, it is imperative to put in place a simple and transparent regulatory framework that encourages growth in the services sectors," she said.
On the new issues being pushed by the developed world, she said: "We should resist the temptation of overloading the WTO agenda at this stage with new issues when we are still grappling with the completion of work in the DDA."
She said India is prepared to constructively contribute in all areas within the framework of the negotiating mandates and the core principles of the WTO.
"As we commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the WTO, let us reaffirm the DDA and resolve to conclude it in a spirit of mutual accommodation and goodwill," the minister said.
Further she said plurilateral agreements impinge on the multilateral trading system and cannot be a substitute for it.
"It is important that such arrangements complement, and not segment, the multilateral trading system," she said.
