India's core demands in the Doha agriculture package -- flexible treatment of special farm products and instruments to contain unforeseen imports -- have been properly reflected in the revised draft modalities text issued on Thursday.
On Monday, the chair for Doha market access negotiations for industrial goods, Ambassador Don Stephenson, washed his hands of holding further meetings on the ground that members are not engaging. However, the other chair overseeing the most difficult dossier of agriculture negotiations, Ambssador Crawford Falconer, today said he will press ahead with more consultations to further narrow gaps.
Indian economy was growing faster than the global average and all other major economies: FM
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Gopal K Pillai said the agriculture text proposals on the special safeguard mechanism were not acceptable to India. A country can use the SSM to impose up to 50 per cent additional import duty on farm products which have seen a surge in imports.
While the Trump administration wants India to lower the trade barriers and embrace "fair and reciprocal" trade, India has raised tariffs on 28 items exported from the US in retaliation to America's withdrawal of preferential access for Indian products.
The government has introduced the Hi-Tech Products Export Promotion Scheme. However, the list of the products that will benefit from the scheme is yet to be announced.
As expected, some WTO members have expressed immediate reservations and it looks far from certain as to whether the WTO can end up achieving anything. In fact, the very relevance of the DDR and even the WTO are now being questioned by independent observers. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy was hopeful the negotiating texts clearly indicate where convergence lies among the WTO members and that the documents provide a springboard for a new and critical stage.
Dean of ISB, M Rammohan Rao on ISB's new programmes, their unique selling proposition, placement programme, their recently launched pre-doctoral programme and dearth of quality faculty crunch faced by Indian management schools.
The chair for Doha agriculture negotiations, Ambassador Crawford Falconer, circulated the working documents on different elements of the market-access pillar that include the treatment of special farm products.
"Unfortunately, the trend is in the opposite direction," Ambassador Ajai Malhotra said and demanded increased voice for the developing nations in the decision making process of international financial institutions.
India has made it clear that it will not relinquish the leverage on agriculture and NAMA until a services deal is finalised by the WTO.
Pressure is on India to eliminate duties on sectors like auto, pharma, chemicals, electronics, gems and jewellery for giving developed nations real market access.
Chance of an accord in global trade talks suffered another setback following India's Union minister Kamal Nath terated that the country will not compromise on its stand on agriculture market access in the WTO's Doha round of talks.
"If the Doha Round does not materialise that would not be on account of the US agricultural subsidies ... major emerging economies (India and Brazil) are not coming up with enough market access, especially in non-agricultural areas such as services including financial services," US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who will be visiting India shortly said.
What will be the impact on the Euro itself? Will it devalue and to what extent?
Guar Gum Manufacturers' Association president G L Sarda said that the industry will definitely participate with the government in the project. "It is high time we fund research projects to develop new varieties of guar seeds," Sarda said.
Noting that bilateral trade with Russia has been below potential, India has hoped that obstacles like lack of direct routesa and difficulties in market access would be overcome to help correct the situation.
In the case of Iran, the lifting of sanctions has paved the way for direct relations.
Nobody can rightly argue that the WTO or the external world is primarily responsible for the woes of our farmers.
For less than three cents a day, largely uneducated women are learning how to invest their money and run their own profitable businesses
The country could be a major beneficiary from greater market access in services unlike other developing nations, said the working paper authored by H A C Prasad, senior economic advisor in the ministry. India is Asia's third largest economy with a size of nearly $1 trillion. Services contribute about 61 per cent of GDP and the sector is growing at double-digit rates.
During President Jinping's visit, China committed $20 billion investment over the next five years
Dealing another blow to WTO's Doha Round, crucial talks between four major players at Potsdam in Germany failed today as India refused to yield any ground on giving market for farm products to rich countries.
Emerging economies led by India and Brazil have informed developed member countries of WTO that they would not accept any dilution of issues concerning food and livelihood security.
Currently, India imposes 30-45 per cent duty on textile products from Pakistan.
Trade ministers of four key World Trade Organization members -- India, Brazil, the US and EU -- will make another attempt in Brussels later this week to bridge the gaps on the contentious issues of farm subsidies and market access.
Leaders of the Indian industry are worried over the way the agricultural issue, which calls for pruning farm subsidies by the rich nations, is being handled at the ongoing global trade talks.
The automaker was found to have engaged in anti-competitive practices.
The Director General of World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, today urged to speed up the negotiations on the Doha Round as the Trade Promotion Authority in United States is expiring in June.
Rich countries should bring down tariffs on goods that developing countries want to export to them for achieving objectives of the Doha Round of trade talks at WTO, President A P J Abdul Kalam said on Friday.
Agreement 'endorsed' by members and being legally vetted but will be part of the main Doha agenda only after a tenuous process.
'There are reports of political dissent mounting on Xi Jinping's handling of the Wuhan fallout.'
Asia's fastest-growing companies are midsize operations that have flourished on a steady diet of venture capital and liberalized policies.
The National SC/ST Hub, under the micro, small and medium enterprises ministry, with an initial outlay of Rs 490 crore, will work towards strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry-best practices.
With global trade talks struggling to make some headway, the US on Tuesday declined to improve its offer for reducing farm subsidies and instead sought greater market access in other developed countries such as the European Union.
With a view to advancing the US trade agenda and strengthening relations with Asian countries, the Deputy United States Trade Representative Karan Bhatia will visit India, Taiwan and Vietnam later this month.
Apart from cotton, copper, petroleum and industrial machinery, India does not export much to China. This means that India buys six times the merchandise it sells to China, points out Abhishek Waghmare.
This will be an area where bilateral or regional trade pacts may not be able to perform well.
India on Tuesday said it was making a last ditch effort to revive the collapsed WTO talks but made it clear that it would not allow industrialised nations to trample developing countries' interest, especially in the sensitive farm sector.
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