The Union Minister of Commerce
and Industry, Shri Anand
Sharma, in a statement strongly underlining India’s concerns at a meeting of
the G-33 in Bali today on the eve of the 9th Ministerial Conference
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has said that food security must be
protected from all challenges in the WTO as it is not only a sensitive issue
for India but also a critical social imperative. Stating that there is a national consensus and
complete political unanimity on this matter in India, Shri
Sharma said: “It is therefore difficult
for us to accept an interim solution as it has been currently
designed. As a responsible nation, we are committed to a constructive
engagement for finding a lasting solution. But
till such time that we reach there, an interim solution which protects us from
all forms of challenge must remain intact.”
Stressing that procurement and public
stockholding for food security are invaluable instrumentalities used by
developing countries to secure interests of the poor and the vulnerable, Shri Sharma urged updating of WTO rules under the Agreement
on Agriculture (AoA) as it would rectify inherent
flaws and then help developing countries in carrying out such legitimate
operations without defaulting on their commitments. The G-33 proposal on food
security aims to address the problems faced by developing countries due to
outdated WTO rules which base agriculture subsidy calculation on external
reference prices of 1986-88, even as global food prices have increased manifold
during this period. It is surely reasonable, the Minister said, that we should
not be asked to peg farm support calculations on prices which were prevailing
thirty years ago! Stating that reforms in agriculture trade rules envisaged in
the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) would have made a major contribution towards
improving the lot of millions of poor farmers in the developing world, he noted
that unfortunately, a consensus on the overall agriculture had eluded members
so far.
Coming down heavily on
developed countries, the Minister observed that while developing countries had
shown a spirit of cooperation and pragmatism in the negotiations in Geneva over
the last several months, the same spirit had been sadly missing in the
positions of some of the members from the developed world. “We cannot continue to have rhetoric of
development agenda without even a reasonable attempt to address the issues
which are of primary concern to developing economies. For decades, handful of
farm lobbies of some countries have shaped the discourse and determined the
destiny of millions of subsistence farmers of the developing countries. The
massive subsidization of the farm sector in the developed countries is not even
a subject matter of discussion, leave aside serious negotiations,” he said.
Stressing
the need for a fair balance in the Bali outcome, Shri
Sharma said: “We can no longer allow the interests of our farmers to be
compromised at the altar of mercantilist ambitions of the rich. The Bali
Ministerial Meeting is an opportunity for the developing countries to stay
united in resolve to demonstrate the centrality of agriculture in trade talks”.
The
G-33 meeting, chaired by the Minister of Trade of Indonesia Mr. Gita Wirjawan, was attended by
all its 47 member countries: Indonesia; Antigua and Barboda;
Barbados; Belize; Benin; Botswana; Bolivia; China; Cote d’Ivoire; Congo; Cuba;
Dominica; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti;
Honduras; India; Indonesia; Jamaica; Kenya; Republic of Korea; Madagascar;
Mauritius; Mongolia; Mozambique; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Pakistan; Panama; the
Philippines; Peru; St. Kitts & Nevis; St. Lucia; Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines; Senegal; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Tanzania; Trinidad and Tobago;
Turkey; Uganda; Venezuela; Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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DS/SJM