The Hindu Business Line : `India to push for legal sanctity of Geneva proposals'

Mr R. Gopalan, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry (centre), addressing a session on `The Doha Development Agenda — July 2004 Framework' organised by the CII in Chennai on Friday. Also seen in the picture are Mr T.K. Bhaumik, Senior Advisor - WTO, CII (left); and Mr N. Kumar, Past-President, CII and Vice-Chairman, Sanmar Group. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , Aug. 27

INDIA will consolidate its gains achieved in the framework agreement concluded in the WTO negotiations at Geneva by ensuring sanction of legal strength to the modalities negotiations coming up in end-2005 to make developed countries stick to their commitments.

Outlining the opportunities and pitfalls leading to the WTO's sixth ministerial conference at Hong Kong in December 2005, Mr R. Gopalan, Joint Secretary, Commerce Ministry, said that India is now working on the modalities of how it proposes to implement its commitments, ensuring that the developed countries stick to theirs. He was speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Friday.

It will push for ensuring the legal sanctity of the proposed modalities agreement framed by the WTO members.

The significance of the modalities is that it is a firm commitment of a country's plans to implement what it has agreed to in the framework agreement.

This would ensure that the gains achieved by the developing countries in the Geneva framework agreement are not lost. The agreement is itself not legally binding on the members, he said.

Between now and February 2005, detailed technical work will be needed to chart out the modalities before the start of the political process. "There is real hard work from September to December 2005," he said.

Once the modalities are finalised, 70 per cent of the job is done. However, the political changes across the globe will have to be kept in mind.

These include the presidential elections in the US and changes in the European Commission, both of which could have an impact on the developed countries' subsequent approach, he said.

The framework agreement concluded at Geneva has helped protect the interests of developing countries, committing the developed countries to a time-bound plan for reducing subsidy and putting a ceiling on support to farmers, he said.

It is one of series of such programmes to brief the industry on the implications and to seek its suggestions.

Referring to regional trade agreements, Mr Gopalan said that such agreements were in the pipeline with Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations), Mercosur and with CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam). Even in this, the Government would like inputs from the industry, which should put forth what items it would like included in the various lists as part of the scheme of reducing tariffs.

In particular, he said 105 items would find a place in the early harvest scheme in the trade agreement with Asean and 111 with CLMV.

A comprehensive economic cooperation agreement was also being discussed with Singapore, which would include aspects such as anti-dumping and safeguard provisions.

The regional trade agreements were building blocks in that India was trying to experiment with liberalisation in a small crucible, something that could be taken on to a larger scale with multilateral trade. India was of the opinion that regional trade agreements should not be a tool to by-pass the WTO, but rather a building block to enlarged trade.

Mr T.K. Bhaumik, Senior Advisor in the Confederation of Indian Industry on WTO issues, said that India should protect the interests of small and medium enterprises and the unorganised sector, which are vulnerable in the WTO scheme of things.

Another area of concern is the non-tariff barrier in agriculture trade. There has been no mention of the barriers in the framework agreement at Geneva.

"We need to make sure that this is not overlooked. The ball is in out court. We have to play well, and understand the implications," he said.

Based on the experience at Doha, developing countries must be wary of developed countries pushing development issues to the background.

India needs to be `more aggressive' in ensuring developed countries cut back on the domestic support.

Similarly, export subsidies are also to be eliminated. However, with the possible political changes in the US and the European Commission, the "mood may change. We need to guard against loopholes," he said.

The finalisation of the framework agreement at Geneva was a welcome breakthrough in that it restored the Doha negotiations back on the rails and dialogues would begin.

Significantly, the Geneva framework is a mark of India's strength in international negotiations and the increasing importance of developing countries.

They managed to bring to fore development concerns and concessional treatment for developing countries, which had not been on the priority list of developed countries.