The Hindu Business Line : WTO: India to urge US to improve offer on services

INDIA will press for a better commitment from the US on the crucial areas of cross border supply of services (mode 1) and movement of natural persons (mode 4) in their ongoing bilateral services negotiations, the Commerce Secretary, Mr S.N. Menon, has said.

The Commerce Ministry had already expressed disappointment that the existing offer from the US was less than satisfactory. It appeared that the US was unwilling to give any ground on this issue, the Ministry had said.

Services negotiations are undertaken on bilateral basis through a request and offer approach.

"When we continue the negotiations with the US in services, we will request them to move further forward particularly as far as their commitments in mode 4 and mode 1 are concerned," Mr Menon told reporters after inaugurating a FICCI conference on "Agenda for WTO Hong Kong Ministerial — Challenges for South Asia".

Stating that a very slow moving negotiating process of request and offer hampered the services negotiations, Mr Menon said, "we have to see in what manner we can work through this".

He also pointed out that the European Union was only making marginal additional commitments.

He highlighted that India had no other option but to constructively engage in multilateral negotiations towards successful outcomes.

"This is an imperative because of our growing international profile and our stakes in a strong multilateral framework. An impasse in the WTO negotiations would do systemic damages to the WTO with long drawn and adverse consequences for the developing countries," Mr Menon said. The Commerce Secretary said the WTO agenda would be driven forward in a vigorous manner from September 1, when Mr Pascal Lamy takes charge as the new Director-General of WTO.

Mr Menon, however, admitted that there was a growing sense among negotiators at Geneva that Hong Kong Ministerial can at the most achieve a "low-level ambition outcome".

The situation could be explained largely by the reworking of the gains and losses by the trade majors and the consequent repositioning by the other players, he said.

"It's a difficult period for smaller countries and smaller economies, as it's not clear what they will really gain from negotiations. In fact, they have much to lose with the margin of preferences getting eroded. Larger economies have to be sensitive to this," Mr Menon said.

Commenting on the challenges for South Asia, the Commerce Secretary said the countries in the region must work towards the finalisation of SAFTA by the end of this year. "It is in the interest of all the countries in the region that SAPTA is converted into SAFTA and becomes operational from January 1.

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