Refusing to budge from its tough stand on food security issues, India pressed for a fair and balanced outcome of the WTO ministerial meeting in Bali.
Protectionist and exclusionary FTAs weaken multilateralism.
India is in no danger of crossing the 10 per cent threshold of food subsidies under the WTO's agreement on agriculture and it will not breach the level in the near future.
According to the final draft of the negotiating text circulated by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo among trade ministers of the 159 member countries on Wednesday night, on public stockholding for food security purposes, a developing country like India can provide subsidies for farm support even if those exceed the permissible 10 per cent cap.
Earlier this year, the US accused India and China of exceeding the WTO limits on farm subsidies, saying these caused trade distortion.
If the WTO talks in Bali fail, it will adversely impact India.
This was a very strong position and was criticised by many, both from the developed and developing world.
The Doha Round of talks of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) faces a new challenge and if some statements emanating after the General Council meeting on July 25 at Geneva are to be taken at face value, this could derail the process of trade liberalisation through a multilateral route for some time.
India's Food Security Act entitles 82 crore people to 5 kg of foodgrains per person a month at Rs 1-3 per kg.
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Kerry was accompanied by US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker who has already expressed disappointment over India's stand at the ongoing TFA negotiations for easing customs rule for free movement of goods.
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Trade ministers and diplomats from around 130 countries are participating in the four-day meeting that started on Tuesday.
As Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma ruled out any possibility of a compromise, whispers were already being heard of a possible collapse of the talks.
As hard bargains continue for the next four days at the picturesque tourist resort of Indonesia, the ministers., including from the influential developed countries will try and reach agreements on providing windows to the developing nations for their food security programmes and a pact to free the global trade from the procedural hassles at the customs.
P Chidambaram said to be able to play a meaningful role in the global governance, the G-20 agenda should be sharper and focused only on those issues on which it can make a distinctive contribution, particularly, on economic and financial matters.
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If India does not wish to continually violate the WTO rules, it must also continue to push the WTO to either revisit the reference point of 1986-88 prices for calculating subsidies and pitch it at a recent period, or raise the ceiling on subsidies to enable countries like India to stay within the envisaged cap.
India believes rich nations should be away from farm subsidies.
The minister, at a packed press conference, made it clear that New Delhi was not prepared for any compromise on the food security issue, adding the deal at Bali has to be fair and balanced as 'it is better to have no agreement than a bad Agreement'.
The proposals will be reviewed by the World Trade Organization's General Council.
ndia has said it is ready to sign the global trade deal as early as next month if other WTO members agree to its demand for concessions on food subsidies.
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He conveyed India's position to visiting Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization Jose Graziano da Silva whom he urged to take the lead in protecting the interests of the poor and farmers at the World Trade Organisation.
Ambassador Islam A'Isi' Siddiqui -- who recently resigned from his position as chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative -- has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as senior adviser on Global Food Security.
The November 26 meeting, the first of its kind, will also take up trade facilitation agreement.
In a veiled attack on Congress and Samajwadi Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused them of continuing to practice vote-bank politics to divide society and asserted that disturbance of peace and harmony will not be tolerated.
'Facing foes with a common intent is not something Modi-Shah's BJP has done before,' points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
China, Indonesia ready to agree to a four-year interim solution.
The country has also asked India to further reduce tariffs on goods.
Anand Sharma who is at the WTO meet at Bali has been making all the right noises in opposing the peace clause. However at 9 PM on Friday, he will have to make a crucial decision.
The differences between the rich and developing nations have always been at the core of the World Trade Organisation, set up in 1995 to facilitate greater trade flows across the world, and it came as a major breakthrough when the US and India reached a deal over food security issues in 2014.
This is the joint statement issued by the ministry of external affairs on the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
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