NEW DELHI: : The Left parties on Monday asked the Government not to commit the country, without national consensus, on the World Trade Organisation at the December Hong Kong Ministerial round. They sought a white paper on the stand the Government proposes to take.In a note to the Government ahead of its meeting with Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, they said the negotiating position adopted by the Government in Hong Kong and its outcome would have a far-reaching and even irreversible, adverse consequences for the country's economy and polity, especially the working class and peasantry.

Referring to the previous rounds, the parties said: "we should learn from that bitter experience. It is thus imperative that the positions that the Government proposes to pursue at the Hong Kong Ministerial are set out in a white paper and discussed in Parliament during the winter session. It is important that an informed debate takes place on the floor of Parliament and no commitment is taken without a national consensus to back it." Incidentally, a scheduled meeting of the Left leaders with Mr. Nath on Monday could not be held due to some confusion over the issue of entry passes to CPI national secretary D. Raja and former bureaucrat S.P. Shukla to the Minister's office in Parliament House. Three MPs, Rup Chand Pal (CPI-M), Manoj Bhattacharya (RSP) and Bir Singh Mahato (AIFB) were waiting in the Minister's chamber.

Former CPI-M MP, S. Ramachandran Pillai, was to accompany Mr. Raja and Mr. Shukla. The meeting would now take place on October 27, Mr. Bhattacharya said adding that the Government's response to the note did not address their concerns.

Seeks review

The Left parties suggested a comprehensive review of Trade-Related Aspects of the Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and detailed sheet on Agreement on Agriculture. They said the Government should expedite negotiations on the Protection of Geographical Indicators in the WTO, in order to extend it to agriculture, natural goods, manufactured goods or any goods of handicraft or goods of industry or food stuff on the lines elaborated earlier; argue for exclusion of patentability of micro-organisms and non-biological and micro-biological processes during the ongoing review; pursue the issue of access to biological resources, prior informed consent and benefit sharing; propose mechanisms to promote public domain science.

It said that it should argue specifically, General Public Licence in software and bio-technology on the basis of the principle that all inventions and software that make use of knowledge in the public domain under open licences cannot be copyrighted or patented and the laws of all countries should reflect this protection; that the patent law of each country should provide for technology transfer promptly without further negotiations and interpret as trade barriers the Motta Text imposition of severe impediment to the provision of Parallel Import by bringing in strict conditionalities and argue that it be done away.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail