The Hindu : India seeks re-launch of WTO talks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 26, 2003

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National

India seeks re-launch of WTO talks

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi Nov. 25. India seeks to re-launch the dialogue at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to resolve the stalemate of the Cancun ministerial conference.

Affirming that this country was committed to the multilateral process in trade, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Arun Jaitley, said contacts had been established with several countries and it was hoped the coming meeting in Geneva would lead to a revival of talks from where they were left at Cancun.

Addressing the valedictory session of the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) via video conferencing from Bhopal, he said contacts had been established with countries with whom India had conflicting stands. The bilateral discussions could then move on to multilateral discussions ultimately to end the impasse. He said, "it is time to get engaged in a dialogue."

Mr. Jaitley suggested that areas such as non-agricultural market access where there were less divergences could be taken up initially. As for the Singapore issues, he felt the dialogue could take off from where things were left at Cancun. He stressed that global trade and global dialogue had to continue since Cancun was only a midpoint in the process of discussion. Besides, he said talks would have to be resumed at the political level after the meeting of the WTO General Council in December.

Agriculture issue

As for agriculture which was a central issue in the WTO talks, he said it was a matter of political sensitivity for many countries. It was only through dialogue that these concerns could be resolved, he felt.

Replying to questions on reforms in labour laws, he said the group of Ministers had recommended some amendments to the Contract Labour Act which would give flexibility in use of contract labour in projects. While he felt trade unions had to be convinced of the need for labour law reforms, he felt an important section of politicians were beginning to recognise the benefits of such reforms by bringing about greater competitiveness and ultimately leading to higher levels of employment.

At the wrap-up press conference for the summit, leading Rahul Bajaj said the discussions on WTO and trade issues concluded that it was a uni-polar world but Cancun showed that it could be a "tri-polar world" as well comprising the U.S, the European Union and the G-20.

It was suggested that to move the process forward from Cancun as soon as possible, it was important that Geneva should build on whatever was informally put on the table in Cancun by the U.S., the E.U. and G-20.

Mr. Bajaj said a suggestion was also mooted on ways to make the WTO less unwieldy in view of the existing system in which all 120 members were involved. Instead of the greenroom system which had been opposed by developing countries, he said the proposal was to have 40 members taking decisions.

This could include 20 of the top trading countries, 20 most populous countries and 10 countries elected by the remaining WTO members. The decisions taken by this body could be binding on the 40 countries but would be optional for the rest.

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