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India cautions WTO Members of backlash if reforms are forced - Farmers' interests the key concern - Mini Ministerial at Montreal
New Delhi: July 30, 2003

India has cautioned the WTO members of a backlash in developing countries if the pace of economic reforms being undertaken autonomously is seen to be forced under dictates from outside. Articulating India's point of view at the three-day informal meeting of the Trade Ministers of World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is being hosted by the Government of Canada in Montreal, Mr. Arun Shourie, Minister of Communication, IT and Disinvestment, emphasised that if the pace of economic reforms was such as to cause dislocation or to be perceived as an imposition from outside, then there could be a backlash which could set back the whole process of multilateral trade negotiations. "Stick to the (Doha) text and be cautious in moving forward", was his message to the meeting which is being attended by 24 member countries.

Mr. Shourie stressed the importance of agriculture as India's key concern in the WTO negotiations, in particular Food Security and the livelihood security of the vast numbers of people dependent on agriculture in the country. Referring to the proposed Special Products of interest to developing countries, the Minister said the selection of such products must be on the basis of self-declaration given that it was not possible to have multilaterally agreed criteria applicable across the board to all countries. He pointed out that there were about 35 crops in India on each of which around five million people were dependent and more than 25 crops with area of over one million hectares each. The Special Products would need to be combined with Special Safeguard Measures with suitable trigger mechanism in terms of both import volume and price in order to protect the interests of farmers. There should also be real reduction in trade distorting agricultural subsidies without the camouflage of shifting of boxes and the key issue of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), which hindered exports from developing countries, should be adequately addressed, he said.

On Singapore issues such as Investment, Mr. Shourie made it clear that there should be explicit consensus on the modalities, in accordance with the Doha mandate, before any negotiations as "nobody would like to take the first step without knowing where it will all lead". He also emphasised that Singapore issues could not be a trade-off for negotiations on agriculture or non-agriculture market access and that they should be treated independently as issues to be considered on merits. Singapore issues should not in any manner be made the focus of the meet at Cancun, the Minister stressed.

Participating in the session on non-agricultural market access, he said that while India was in broad agreement with the Girard formula (which recognises the need for differentiation and suggests certain elements for developing modalities for the negotiations), there were several sensitive sectors, which would need continued higher levels of production. He mentioned in particular the sensitivities of small scale and cottage industries; agricultural products like natural rubber, jute and coir, which had crept into the industrial goods during the Uruguay Round despite having all the characteristics of primary agriculture products; and lastly, the categories of industries which had not yet fully stabilised in the country.

In the session on Development, Shri Shourie reiterated the importance of Implementation and Special and Differential (S&D) Treatment issues and underlined the need to achieve some results in this area before Cancun and preparing a clear roadmap for dealing with these issues beyond Cancun. He urged the negotiators to focus on the commercially significant issues of concern to developing countries, including in the area of services and said this was important for the credibility of the multilateral trading system. Lack of progress in these areas had given credence to the perception of the WTO process as a one-way street, he pointed out.

Press Release by: PIB/SB/PM/MRS
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