The Hindu Business Line : India seeks `policy space' at Doha

THE WTO Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy; the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath; and the ICRIER Chairperson, Dr Isher Ahluwalia, at a seminar on WTO in the Capital on Thursday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , April 6

India on Thursday pleaded for "appropriate policy space" as an essential element of any modalities for negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in their final outcome.

Speaking at a conference on "WTO and the Doha Round: The Way Forward", jointly organised by the Indian Council for Research on International Relations (ICRIER) and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) here, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, cited the case of agriculture. He said agricultural tariffs remained the only instrument of safeguarding the food and livelihood security of the rural poor for developing countries such as India.

Outlining India's priorities, Mr Nath said that in agriculture, the effectiveness of instruments such as special products and special safeguard mechanism were absolutely vital. In any case, any tariff reduction formula would have tosecure what members had already agreed upon, namely, factoring in the different tariff structures of developing countries for thresholds and proportionately lower tariff reduction commitments for developing countries, which should be at least one-third lower than that for developed countries.

Similarly, in non-agricultural market access (NAMA), he underscored the principle of less than full reciprocity in reduction commitments for developing countries. He said flexibility provisions were a developmental necessity and could not be traded against any other elements of the modalities. In services, Mr Nath reiterated that for India, a satisfactory outcome in ensuring the opening of sectors in cross border services (Mode 1) and movement of natural persons (Mode 4) remained vital.

In his special address, the WTO Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, said the moment of truth was approaching in the Doha Round trade talks, as the150 members of the organisation had agreed in Hong Kong to reach convergence on key numbers in three areas — quantum of reduction of domestic subsidies in agriculture, quantum of reduction in tariffs on agricultural products and on industrial products by April 30, 2006.

"India's offensive interests in the Doha Round cut across the entire negotiating agenda and are a sign of India's insertion in a globalised world," Mr Lamy remarked. He said India had a lot at stake in these negotiations, given its interests across the entire negotiating agenda and given the dynamism of India's economy.