Suresh Prabhu will make it clear in Marrakesh meet that India will not enter into any trade-off in other areas of agriculture for a permanent solution for public stock holding programmes.
Geneva: Commerce minister Suresh Prabhu is expected to deliver the strongest message yet during a meeting of more than 35 trade ministers in Marrakesh on Monday that New Delhi will not accept any outcome at the upcoming World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ministerial conference in Buenos Aires without a permanent solution for public stock holding programmes for food security, said a person familiar with the development. He will also make it clear to his counterparts from major industrialized countries that India will not enter into any trade-off in other areas of agriculture for a permanent solution for public stock holding programmes that sustain hundreds of millions of poor farmers, the person said, asking not to be named.
Along with his counterparts from China and other developing and poorest countries, Prabhu will also reiterate New Delhi’s commitment to pressing ahead with the unfinished Doha negotiations so as to reinforce multilateral trade liberalization in the face of the America First bilateral trade initiatives of the Trump administration, the person said. The Marrakesh meeting, which is planned to be a bellwether event for the WTO’s 11th ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, will not be attended by the US trade representative ambassador Robert Lighthizer due to a sudden cabinet meeting scheduled by President Donald Trump on 10 October, according to a participant from South America who asked not to be identified.
In the absence of the US and amid continued entrenched positions on a range of issues in agriculture, fisheries subsidies, electronic commerce, and other areas, the Marrakesh meeting will remain as an event for venting out wish-lists for the big Buenos Aires conference, the participant said. On the first day, ministers from India, China, the European Union (EU), Japan, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Rwanda, and Jamaica, among others will make their respective initial statements setting out their priorities.
Subsequently, key ministers will hold a series of bilateral meetings as well as participate in the meetings of their respective coalitions such as the G-33 countries led by Indonesia in which India is a leading driver, the Cairns Group led by Australia, the Africa Group led by Rwanda, the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) group led by Guyana, and the least-developed countries among others.
On 10 October, the ministers will make a final statement following which the chair Moulay Hafid Elalamy, the trade and industry minister from host Morocco, will deliver a statement directing the trade envoys to work on priority areas during the next 60 days. The WTO director general Roberto Azevedo will guide the Moroccan minister during the deliberations.
In the run-up to the Marrakesh meeting, it has become clear that the WTO’s ministerial conference in Buenos Aires beginning on 10 December will be a battleground for several issues, particularly for the future of multilateral trade liberalization based on the Doha work programme.
On 5 October, a large majority of developing countries, including India, rejected attempts by Russia, Japan, EU and other major industrialized as well as some developing countries for replacing the structure of the current electronic commerce work programme at the WTO so as to establish a separate working group at Buenos Aires. Without resolving the outstanding issues in the Doha work programme, major industrialized countries and their allies seem pretty determined to embark on negotiations for new rules in e-commerce and other areas while burying the Doha negotiations at Buenos Aires, said several trade envoys who asked not to be quoted by name.
India’s trade envoy J.S. Deepak said categorically on 5 October at a meeting organized by the WTO General Council that New Delhi will not accept any change in the current work program on e-commerce which is comprehensive in scope and remains relevant to the “development needs” of developing countries, according to a person who attended the meeting.
Deepak also rejected calls from major industrialized and a few developing countries like South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, for a permanent moratorium for not imposing customs duties on electronic commerce transactions. India, he said, will agree to extend the moratorium for another years in exchange for moratorium on TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints. The Indian stakeholders are not in favour of a permanent moratorium on customs duties because of the potential revenue loss, he suggested.
On agriculture, the Indian envoy built a large coalition of developing and poorest countries to drive home the message that the fundamental reform of global trade in agricultural products must begin with the elimination of the most trade-distorting domestic subsidies in the industrialized countries. Following his meetings with the Group of 90 countries, the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) group issued a statement on 6 October endorsing a proposal from China and India on the elimination of Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) or most trade-distorting subsidies. Deepak also adopted strong positions on the need to ensure fisheries subsidies for artisanal fishermen and domestic regulation for trade in services. India said issues in the domestic regulation for trade in services must first address the concerns on the movement of short-term services providers in Mode 4, an African envoy said.
Source:- Live Mint
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