India is not happy with the revised drafts on agriculture and non-agriculture market access (Nama) circulated at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on May 19. In agriculture, dilution of the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) protecting the livelihood concerns of poor farmers is unacceptable to the country, said the source. India also turned down introduction of three different tariff reduction coefficients for developing countries, the linkage established between reduction commitments undertaken and flexibilities and the various carve-outs given to individual developing countries. New Delhi feels this is an attempt to divide developing country members who are negotiating as one through the Nama-11 group.
While lauding the committee on agriculture (CoA) chairman Crawford Falconer for managing to come up with a text with just 30 square brackets, which indicate areas yet to be negotiated, India said that the Nama chairman Don Stephenson appears totally confused as he has introduced 97 brackets as opposed to 17 brackets in the earlier text.
The WTO secretariat is trying to hold a ministerial meet by the end of June in which it wants to finalise the modalities for liberalisation of both agriculture and Nama. The following months would be utilised for scheduling of the commitments undertaken by each member and taking forward the negotiations in other areas which are part of the Doha round including services and rules. The broad idea is to have the Doha agreement in place by end of the year, following which each country would have to individually ratify it domestically. In agriculture, India is unhappy with the text suggesting a price trigger of 30% dip below existing prices for introducing SSMs which involves increasing import tariffs. Moreover, the condition of applying SSMs on 3 to 8 products is also unrealistic for a country with 23 agro-climatic zones, officials added. "During the Uruguay Round, developed countries had SSMs for 40 products. Why should we settle for less?" an official wondered. In Nama, India said that the reduction coefficient of 7-9 for developed countries and the three bands of 19-21, 21-23 and 23-26 for developing countries, translated into greater percentage cuts for the latter. Moreover, linking flexibilities for developing countries to the reduction coefficients they undertake is outside the mandate of the negotiations. India will also oppose the various carve-outs given to developing countries such as Venezuela and South Africa. The Indian industry, too, has lashed out against the Nama text.
While lauding the committee on agriculture (CoA) chairman Crawford Falconer for managing to come up with a text with just 30 square brackets, which indicate areas yet to be negotiated, India said that the Nama chairman Don Stephenson appears totally confused as he has introduced 97 brackets as opposed to 17 brackets in the earlier text.
The WTO secretariat is trying to hold a ministerial meet by the end of June in which it wants to finalise the modalities for liberalisation of both agriculture and Nama. The following months would be utilised for scheduling of the commitments undertaken by each member and taking forward the negotiations in other areas which are part of the Doha round including services and rules. The broad idea is to have the Doha agreement in place by end of the year, following which each country would have to individually ratify it domestically. In agriculture, India is unhappy with the text suggesting a price trigger of 30% dip below existing prices for introducing SSMs which involves increasing import tariffs. Moreover, the condition of applying SSMs on 3 to 8 products is also unrealistic for a country with 23 agro-climatic zones, officials added. "During the Uruguay Round, developed countries had SSMs for 40 products. Why should we settle for less?" an official wondered. In Nama, India said that the reduction coefficient of 7-9 for developed countries and the three bands of 19-21, 21-23 and 23-26 for developing countries, translated into greater percentage cuts for the latter. Moreover, linking flexibilities for developing countries to the reduction coefficients they undertake is outside the mandate of the negotiations. India will also oppose the various carve-outs given to developing countries such as Venezuela and South Africa. The Indian industry, too, has lashed out against the Nama text.
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