NEW DELHI: Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday the agreement at the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong not only addressed the concerns of both the agriculture and industrial sectors but would also increase India's farm and manufacturing exports.

"The agreement fully secures the concerns of our farmers. It ensures that no subsidy-ridden farm products are exported to India ... the phase-out of export subsidies by developed countries will also give Indian farmers a chance to compete in the world market," said Mr. Nath on his arrival here.

The declaration envisages that the developed countries will eliminate their export subsidies by 2013 while reducing them substantially by 2010.

Mr. Nath attributed the "success" to the strategy of India forming a grand coalition of developing countries (G-110) at the sixth WTO Ministerial, which ended on Sunday. He said the agreement protected domestic farmers against a surge in imports, thanks to the provisions of Special Products (SPs) and the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) included in the Ministerial declaration.

Under SPs, India and other developing countries will not have to cut tariffs on a specific number of products, while the SSM incorporates both price and volume triggers to check a surge in cheap imports.

The Minister, who played an active role in shaping the outcome, said the agreement laid the basic principles of trade negotiations and the modalities would be worked out next year.

He said the agreement took on board the concerns of industry, since the developed countries would have to reduce tariff peaks and tariff escalations on products from developing nations. Further elimination of tariff peaks and escalations would result in greater market access, as developed countries would not be able to levy higher duty on value-added products such as leather and textiles, he said. Importantly, the Declaration includes the principle of "less than full reciprocity," as a provision, which will govern all market access commitments.

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