The Hindu Business Line : Lamy's stand on farmers unreal

The WTO Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, is trying his best to get the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks moving once again, which is primarily why he was in the country last week. His mission basically was to tell New Delhi that it had to get off its high horse of protection to the Indian farmer if India was not to be left out of the moves being currently made in other parts of the world to resume the negotiations.

Thus, on the one hand, Mr Lamy made it clear to his audience in New Delhi that the principal players in the WTO — such as the US, the EU, Brazil and Japan, among others — were beginning to talk along the right lines, in the process opening up possibilities of a resumption of the negotiations. As the WTO chief put it in his inimitable way: "My understanding is that the US and EU have started testing new positions. Something is cooking but it is not at the point of being served. It also needs Indian spices." He was however careful to add that, apart from India, Brazil, the US and EU, "other chefs like Japan and Australia (would) have to contribute to it".

In other words, New Delhi will have to contribute in some way or the other which would strengthen the current, perceived process of a softening in the negotiating positions of the principal players. And how precisely can New Delhi do this? Among other things, Mr Lamy had said specifically that (as reported) "he was conscious of the position of India on agriculture but added that opening up the farm sector for imports would not make the lives of Indian farmers any tougher". He is also reported to have told the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, that "India need not be overly concerned about agriculture subsidies and the livelihood security of farmers".

Wrong timing

It is clear that no one can doubt the sincerity of the WTO chief in his effort to get the Doha Round moving once again, but it is also apparent that he is simply not aware of the strong passions his advice is certain to rake up given the extremely sensitive nature of the subject he has touched upon. What has made the situation worse for Mr Lamy's advice to be given a decent hearing is the almost cavalier fashion in which it has been formulated by the WTO chief, almost certainly unwittingly. While this is plain and simple unfortunate, it can be argued that, on more substantive grounds, this is not the right time for any statement — of the sort Mr Lamy has made — to be given a fair and patient hearing.

Thus, the issue of the protection of Indian farmers is casting a long shadow on the ongoing FTA talks with Asean (edible oils, etc), not to speak of the entire SEZ policy of the UPA Government being given a fresh look because of its perceived impact on the interests of Indian agriculture, among other things.

Idea of development

The WTO chief has also suggested something that New Delhi cannot openly implement for fear of being charged with backtracking on declared policy by its opponents as well as friends. Among others, the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, has time and again gone out of his way to impress upon the international community that India is wholly opposed to any agreement in Geneva which will sacrifice the interests of its farmers.

Thus, he has left no stone unturned to labour the point that the Doha Round is not a market-access round but a development round, and that, to a country like India, the idea of `development' carries little meaning if it does not help the farming population. As he told reporters in July last year, "I am willing to negotiate commerce, but susbsistence, livelihood and security I will not be willing to negotiate".

Against this backdrop, it will be practically impossible for New Delhi to alter its guiding policy vis-à-vis the negotiations, of which Mr Lamy should have been aware. Perhaps he is, and whatever he has suggested in New Delhi is probably the result of his understanding that the `movement' being made in discussions with other players elsewhere in the world would be strengthened if India made a few helpful noises.

But what precisely is this `movement' that is probably at the back of Mr Lamy's mind, which has made him offer his thoroughly impracticable suggestion involving Indian farmers? Probably it is the January meeting in Washington between EU leaders and Mr Bush and US officials, where statements of hope were uttered without there being any signs of concrete, substantive concessions made by either side, or both.

Neither the EU Trade Commissioner, Mr Peter Mandelson, nor the US Trade Representative, Ms Susan Schwab, said anything at their January 8 Press conference which can be construed to be real progress in efforts to break the negotiations deadlock.

The only thing forthcoming in abundance were statements of intention, the closest one got to brasstacks was Ms Schwab's illuminating revelation, namely (from the transcript of the Press conference): "Going on underneath the surface are tremendous numbers of bilateral and small group meetings involving senior officials, senior agricultural negotiators and now is extremely useful in getting a sense of specifics, priorities, sensitivities, red lines, parameters and where areas of convergence could be so that when it comes time to come out with the next round of activities, whether it's sequential or all at once, whether it's half a dozen countries or significantly more than that, there are no nasty surprises. I think that really is the key."

Contents vital to outcome

Certainly, it is, and one hopes for the sake of the future of international trade that they will lead to success in breaking the current impasse in the negotiations. In other words, it is the `contents' of the ongoing process that will be crucial to the outcome.

As of now, there is not much on the horizon that can inspire much enthusiasm. As a first step, all eyes are turned towards the Davos `mini-Ministerial' at the end of this month, the hope being that it will be followed by a few important steps by April which could resume the process towards freer trade at the multilateral level.

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