The Hindu Business Line : `Trade talks must go beyond agriculture'

Reiterating that the EU was not actually calling for reciprocity, Mr Fracisco da Camara Gomes, Ambassador, Head of Delegation of European Commission in India, Bhutan, and Nepal, said today that it was not enough if trade talks discuss only the issue of agricultural subsidies.

Speaking at an interactive session on `India-EU Business Relations - Post Hong Kong WTO Ministerial', he said that it was necessary to bring everything on the table, like issues pertaining to both agricultural and non-agricultural market access , services, trade facilitation, and geographical indications.

Shared priorities

He said if the Doha Development Round has to succeed in full, "everyone should find a gain from the multilateral negotiations on the basis of shared priorities." Expecting more contributions from bigger developing countries such as India and Brazil, Mr Gomes said that both India and EU are crucial for the success of the Doha Round.

Scope for improvement

Describing India as EU's strongest trading partner (21 per cent average growth in bilateral trade in the last three years), he said that there was still scope for huge improvement as EU's trade with China was double of that with India.

Stating that a high-level EU Group was now working on a long-term economic partnership agreement with India, Mr Gomes said the next India-EU trade summit in Finland in October should see further strengthening of trade and economic relations.

Earlier, Ms Nayantara Palchoudhuri, President, Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said farm tariffs largely in the protectionist bloc - EU, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Switzerland - dwelt around ad valorem rates and specific tariffs.

Specific tariffs conceal the level of protection, and need to be expressed in percentage terms. With the ad valorem equivalents in place, WTO members need to deal with both the structure of the tariff-cutting formula as well as the framework for reducing trade-distorting domestic subsidies, she added.