The Hindu : National : No WTO deal affecting farmers will be accepted: Kamal Nath

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

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No WTO deal affecting farmers will be accepted: Kamal Nath

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: India will not agree to any deal at the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong next week which affects its farmers, Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, declared categorically on Tuesday.

"India cannot agree to a situation which leads to displacement of our farmers. We have to ensure that subsidised cheap imports do not flood our markets and displace our farmers," Mr. Nath told newspersons at a press conference here.

Mr. Nath, who is heading the Indian delegation to the sixth WTO Ministerial from December 13-18, noted that there was a broad political consensus on the issue of engagement with the world economy.

The Government, while protecting the concerns of the country's farmers, also wanted to secure their future interests by ensuring fair market access of the developed nations, he said.

The strategy, he said, would also be the same for `Non-Agriculture Market Access' (NAMA) where India has sought free and fair access for its goods in which it is competitive.

Noting that the draft text for the Ministerial conference did not contain adequate development content, Mr. Nath said that the developed world should not forget that the developing countries had come into the Doha Round as it was supposed to focus on development.

"The draft Ministerial text does not have adequate development content. No provision which displaces millions of poor farmers is acceptable to us," Mr Nath reiterated while pointing out that an attempt was now being made to bring out some package for the developing and least developed countries (LDCs) and move ahead from the July framework.

Accompanying Mr. Nath to Hong Kong as members of the delegation would be senior officials from the Ministries of Commerce, Agriculture, Textiles and Finance as also representatives of apex industry chambers and non-Governmental organisations (NGOs).

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