The Hindu : Front Page : ``End agro subsidies of rich countries''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 20, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

``End agro subsidies of rich countries''

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. The group of 20 ministerial meeting concluded today on a united note with the alliance standing firm on agriculture issues in the ongoing Doha Round of negotiations in the World Trade Organisation. Sending out a strong signal to developed countries on putting an end to billions of dollars of trade-distorting export subsidies, the declaration issued at the end of the meeting called for elimination of all such subsidies within five years with front loading of commitments.

It stressed that an early agreement on elimination of export subsidies within five years would inject a new momentum to the agricultural negotiations in the WTO on other fronts. On the crucial issue of market access, the Ministers reaffirmed the long-held view of the G-20 that the tariff reduction formula was the main component of the market access pillar and should be negotiated before addressing the issue of flexibilities.

Focussing on the key sector of agriculture, the Ministers noted that it was vital for all developing countries and central to the Doha Development Agenda. "Our common goal is to put an end to trade-distorting policies in agriculture maintained by developed countries, thus contributing to growth and development of developing countries and their positive integration into the world trading system."

In particular, they welcomed the participation of the coordinators of the Africa Group, ACP (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) countries, Caricom (Caribbean), the Group of 33 and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the meeting and felt that such coordination would contribute significantly towards realising the development dimension of the Doha Round of WTO negotiations. Without creating any new categories of developing countries, it was agreed that the concerns of small, vulnerable economies must also be effectively addressed as part of the work programme.

Expanding on the need to cut back on subsidies, the declaration said that in order to fulfil the mandate of "substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support," negotiations should determine base periods and initial and final numbers for the overall trade distorting domestic support in a technically consistent and politically credible manner. Moreover such reductions should be necessarily complemented by further "disciplines in the Blue Box and the Green Box in order to avoid mere box shifting".

Common strategy

The common strategy and position evolved by member-countries figured during the two-day meeting. The Ministers reaffirmed the commitment to progress in the Doha round of negotiations in 2005 with the aim of reaching agreement on the modalities for negotiations during the sixth ministerial conference of the WTO to be held in Hong Kong in December 2005.

It was felt that the tariff reduction formula must contain progressivity, proportionality and flexibility. The conversion of non-ad valorem duties into ad valorem duties was "non-negotiable." Special and differential treatment for developing countries must constitute an integral part of all elements with a view to preserving food security, rural development and livelihood concerns of millions of people that depended on the agriculture sector. The elimination of tariff escalation was important for developing countries as it would allow them to diversify and increase their export revenues by adding value to their agricultural production.

In this context, the G-20 noted with concern the increasing use of non-tariff barriers by developed countries which were acting as impediments to exports to products of interest to developing countries.

The G-20 ministerial meeting ratified the inclusion of Uruguay as its member besides adopting a logo for itself.

Apart from India and Brazil, the other members are China, Argentina, South Africa, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Thailand, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

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