Eu Bid To Put Mia On Wto Agenda

Several senior officials from various European Union institutions gave indications to this effect while briefing a group of visiting Indian journalists here.

The officials said only a multilateral investment agreement can free the foreign direct investments from the fetters of national regulations. While the officials were unanimous in conceding Indias increasing importance in the global trade market, thanks to its burgeoning middle class, they said a high growth rate in India was in the interest of EU as well India.

For each to benefit fully from the others growth, it is important to tackle outstanding barriers to trade and investment within the WTO, said Herve Jouanjean, head of DGI unit in the European Commission.

 

While the MIA, the brain child of EU, has now been adopted by almost all industrialised nations, which are pushing for its inclusion in the agenda of the WTO ministerial meeting in December in Singapore, it has also resulted in consolidation among the developing countries ranks, as was clear from the various statements made by leader of G-15 on the summits opening day.

The MIA was needed since no single comprehensive set of rules existed for foreign investments worldwide. A transparent multilateral agreement would ensure that the rules of the game are the same for everyone, said Robert Taylor who heads European Research Associates, a major Euro think-tank.

When it was pointed out to other officials that while MIAs inclusion in the WTO would ensure that the rules of the game would be same for everyone, it was the playing field itself which was not level, the replies ranged from evasiveness to couldnt-care-less attitude.

Jouanjean went to the extent of saying that till date I have not understood at all what objections India has to MIA being part of the WTO. For good measure, he added, I wonder if the Indian officials themselves comprehend why they were opposing the issue.

Most EU officials, especially those from the India desk of the European Commission and the directorate general dealing with South and South-East Asia and Latin America, repeatedly brought up issues like child labour, human rights and environmental concerns, and sought to project them as trade impediments.

However, many did concede that Indias record on human rights was better and its monitoring system more transparent than perceived generally in the West. India has repeatedly declared that bringing up such issues in context of global trade was merely an attempt to sneak in non-tariff trade barriers, a view shared by G-15 as well as other developing countries.