The Hindu : `Developing nations can now counter subsidised imports'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 21, 2003

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`Developing nations can now counter subsidised imports'

By Gargi Parsai

Rajnath Singh

NEW DELHI SEPT. 20. A significant fallout of the failure of the Cancun talks of the World Trade Organisation was that with the lapse of the Peace Clause in December this year, developing countries would have the flexibility to impose countervailing duty on subsidised imports from developed countries, the Union Agriculture Minister, Rajnath Singh, has said.

(Under the Peace Clause, the European Union (EU) cannot be dragged to the Disputes Settlement Forum of the WTO till December 31, for distorting prices of agriculture commodities through heavy subsidisation. From next January, any country, which feels threatened from subsidised imports, can take countervailing measures.)Speaking informally to select mediapersons here, the Minister said the failure of the conference would provide a reform holiday to the EU and the United States which would continue with their export and domestic support to agriculture. "This will be particularly useful to the U.S. in this election year."

The Minister, who was briefed in detail by Agriculture Ministry officials who went to Cancun, said India was successful in keeping the unity of G-21 countries under the leadership of India, Brazil, China and Africa.

"This was the first meeting in which the EU and the U.S. were on the back foot.

Earlier at Doha and in Seattle they did not retreat."He said the negotiations broke down on the Singapore issues concerning investment, competition, procurement and trade facilitation on which the group of African nations walked out.

(However, in a separate media briefing, the Union Commerce Minister, Arun Jaitley, said the G-21 group had achieved considerable success in the `green room' in negotiating on the issue of domestic and export subsidy given by the EU and the U.S. on farm commodities when talks collapsed.)

Mr. Singh said the ball was now in the court of the EU and the US to revive the process of negotiations.

"Till the WTO remains an institution, the multilateral trade system will remain. The G-21 will have to maintain its unity to exert pressure on the EU and the U.S.," he said.

Another package soon

Turning to other issues concerning his Ministry, Mr. Singh said the Government would soon come out with a second assistance package to the tune of about Rs. 400 crores for those States which did not give State-Advised Prices.

He regretted that the five SAP States had not yet come forward to avail of the Rs. 670-crore assistance announced to them last month.

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