Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Doha declaration was positive for India: Maran

Tara Shankar Sahay, in New Delhi

Union Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran on Friday asserted that India's "explicit consensus" (veto) against European interests in the World Trade Organisation meet in Doha would not harm the country and, "perhaps for the first time we have something positive to show."

Addressing a press conference on the Indian stand at the Doha meet, the minister removed doubts that explicit consensus meant veto and assured that despite the differences between the developing and the developed countries, India would not opt out (of WTO).

"There is no question of opting out because 'opting in' means signing the (WTO) agreement. Opting out would kill the multilateral trading system," Maran pointed out.

He said he told the European countries at the Doha meet that India would not immediately start negotiations on the Singapore issues (trade and investment, trade and competition, transparency in government procurement practices and trade facilitation), and it (talks) can happen only if there is a consensus and that too after getting reports of the study group in the next ministerial to be held two years later.

Queried about India's gains from the Doha meet, Maran contended, "I would say that on as many as 50 of the 100 implementation items we got immediate relief. These included six months time for adopting the sudden imposition of food and hygiene standards by the developed countries, which came as a surprise."

He said India also got some relief regarding the back-to-back anti-dumping means of the developed countries, which resorted to them through "misinterpretation and misapplication."

He admitted that the Doha meet had almost collapsed because of the initial obduracy of the developed countries in foisting their points of view.

"The fears that India would be isolated proved to be wrong and we found support and commonality of interests among many developing countries."

Questioned about China's accession to WTO, he said that India would now have to think about competition from China.

One of the important demands of India and other developing countries was that TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) should not prevent WTO members from taking measures to protect public health.

He said the "immediate tangible trophy of victory is the declaration of TRIPS and public health, which has put world health before patents - a serious and onerous commitment made in the Uruguay Round."

The conference affirmed (WTO) member countries' rights to "interpret and implement" TRIPS in a manner supportive of the need to protect public health and ensure access to medicines for all.

Apart from enlarging the scope of agriculture negotiations to address developing countries' concerns, Maran said a major gain on services was on the issue of movement of natural personnel.

Now India has secured the right for a trade off on services. For example opening of a branch of a foreign bank could be made conditional to their allowing specified number of Indian personnel to work there.

On contentious core labour standards, Maran said, "we have kept the labour issue out of the trade negotiations and we saw to it that European Union did not have its way in the launch of a comprehensive round of trade negotiations.

The first victory of Doha declaration was on implementation issues -- the unimplemented portions of the previous Uruguay Round agreements.

"First our cries were ignored by the industrialised world, later they started denying them by saying that they would reopen the entire Uruguay round understandings," he said adding "we got the major players of international trade and the World to accept India's point of view on implementation issue as correct."

On environment he said, "the damage is limited and this is the price we have to pay for something in agriculture." Maran claimed that overall the Doha declaration was "positive" for India.

"We have marginally agreed on environment, which to a large extent, is a political acknowledgement of its importance rather than rebalancing of rights and obligations," he said.

Europe has always been fighting for negotiations on environment as they have coalition of green parties and they are against use of genetically modified seeds to protect the interests of small and marginal farmers, Maran said, implying this augured well for India.

Also negotiations on environment is "two track" which initially will be limited to applicability of existing WTO rules and reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services.

He said India scored a major victory by keeping away from negotiations of four contentious issues of investment, competition, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation.

(Additional inputs from PTI)

ALSO READ:
India and the WTO: News and issues