Hong Kong: On the eve of the sixth World Trade Organisation Ministerial conference that gets under way here, India looks forward to specific commitments from the developed countries and not just "a statement of good intentions."

These commitments should be in the form of cuts in the subsidies doled out to farmers in developed countries and the opening up of the market to agricultural products from other nations.

Declaring that the WTO (trade negotiations process) could not move forward without "India being on board," Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that the country was keen on measures to improve market access to its goods, correction in the anti-dumping law and removal of non-tariff barriers.

The Minister briefed the media after attending meetings, including those with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Pakistan's Trade Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, who is also the facilitator for the discussions on NAMA (Non-Agricultural Market Access).

India, Mr. Kamal Nath said, was keen on better market access for its products in which its strengths lay, including textiles and leather. Even while underscoring the need for the developed countries to reduce their domestic subsidies, he said there could be no compromise on 65-70 sensitive products of India. The country could not provide market access in these areas.

To a question on a recent European Union proposal for reducing subsidies, the Minister said the E.U. must "move forward" and cut farm subsidies. That would help India — whose agri-products exports was $7 billion last year — in terms of better market access.

The success of the Hong Kong Conference depended on how the developed countries addressed the concerns of others, he said. The expectation from the meeting, under the Doha development round negotiations, was how far it would move ... "an inch, a step or a leap forward."

"The Hong Kong hype should not hustle us [the developing countries] into content that is not acceptable," he said. India would resist any effort to divide the developing countries.

Tight security

Earlier in the day, Keith Rockwell, WTO Director (Information and Media Relations) and S.Y. Tam, Assistant Director in Hong Kong's Information Services Department, said elaborate arrangements, including those related to security, had been made for the six-day conference.

Apart from 5,800 delegates from the 149 member countries, 3,200 media personnel and over 2,100 representatives of non-governmental organisations have been provided accreditation for attending the conference.

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