The European Union on Tuesday agreed with New Delhi that there needs to be in place some sort of livelihood security for farmers in agriculture negotiations at the World Trade Organisation and also agreed that there has to be some kind of protectionism.
"India and the EU share some strong common interests in agriculture. We share India's concern on livelihood security for farmers," European Commission director general (trade), David O'Sullivan said in New Delhi.
"There is some reason in developing countries' view that there has to be some kind of protectionism for addressing livelihood concerns of poor farmers," he said.
He, however, said the EU did not agree with India that there can be no trade-off between agriculture and non-agriculture market access, saying Europe wanted some forward movement in other sectors for completion of Doha round of negotiations.
O'Sullivan refused to comment on New Delhi's individual position, but said G-20, of which India is a part, agreed during the Hong Kong Ministerial that there would be a "comparable level of ambition" in agriculture and industrial tariffs.
There will be some losses, but going by past records, overall everyone will benefit from liberalisation, he said.
"The Doha round is a single undertaking and we cannot talk only about agriculture. There has to be some forward movement in other areas including services as well," he said.
O'Sullivan, who is in New Delhi for India-EU high-level trade group meeting, said trade talks must create new commercial opportunities for both developing and developed countries.
"This will be the litmus test for WTO talks," he said, adding he was hopeful that the April 30 deadline for finishing talks on farm and industrial goods would be met.
O'Sullivan said while rich countries' markets are opened to developing countries in farm products, industrialised nations should also get access to developing countries for their industrial goods.
The EU has drastically reformed its Common Agricultural Policy, which would ensure elimination of export subsidies and discourage overproduction by European farmers. This would give a greater level of comfort to developing countries, he said.
At the bilateral front, O'Sullivan said the India-EU Trade Group meeting on Monday charted out the agenda and the work programme for the next few months.
The group, set up last year during the visit of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to enhance economic cooperation between India and the EU, will meet again in March, May, July and finally in September before submitting its report to the next India-EU Summit in October at Helsinki, Finland.
He said there were no discussions with commerce ministry officials on bilateral free trade agreement or an investment pact.
However, he said, "all options are open and we will look at these issues in future."
