The Hindu : National : `India managed to ensure acceptance of food security concept at WTO'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004

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National

`India managed to ensure acceptance of food security concept at WTO'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 3. India has managed to ensure that the concepts of food security, livelihood security and rural development are "enshrined" in the framework agreement on agriculture concluded at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. Disclosing this here today, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, said the agreement also ensures for the first time that developed countries reduce export subsidies by as much as 20 per cent within the first year of the agreement.

He clarified that the framework agreement laid down the criteria and principles for the final draft agreement on agriculture that will come into effect after 2005. As for the next WTO ministerial conference, he said it would be held in Hong Kong next year.

Commerce Ministry officials, however, said that no more mini-ministerial meetings are likely to be held till December this year, given the fact that elections are under way in several countries, including the United States.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Kamal Nath said the next step would be to ensure that developed countries cut their huge farm subsidies within a five-year rather than a ten-year time frame. He claimed that it had also been possible to ensure that developed countries such as the U.S. and the European Union are not able to shift their highly trade distorting subsidies from the "amber" to the "blue" box. The amber box covers highly trade distorting subsidies while the blue box, includes moderately trade distorting subsidies.

Besides, he said the framework agreement has also recognised the principle of less-than-full reciprocity.

This meant that developing countries would be able to reduce their tariffs at a level less than that of developed countries.

As for the concern expressed by NGOs such as Oxfam, he said it would not have been possible to achieve more gains for developing countries without actually withdrawing from the WTO. This was "the art of the feasible," he said while noting that India had taken a conscious decision to engage in the global trading system through the WTO rather than becoming isolationist. The policy decision had been reiterated by various governments over the last 20 years, he added.

He said a major victory had been achieved by India in the form of inserting a clause on domestic support to provide Special and Differential treatment to enable developing countries to continue giving support to its farmers. Called "de minimis" he said this was a major gain for India.

In addition, he pointed out that any future tariff reduction would be on the bound rate rather than on the applied rate. In India's case the bound rates are much higher than the applied ones, currently at around 114 per cent as against an applied rate of 37 per cent.

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