The Hindu Business Line : India, Argentina call for balance in industrial tariff texts

New Delhi, June 11 India and Argentina underlined the need for restoring balance in the ongoing negotiations for modalities in non-agricultural market access (NAMA) agreement, fully honouring the principle of less than full reciprocity and special and more favourable treatment for developing countries.

This was the broad conclusion of the bilateral meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 9-10 when India’s Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K Pillai, met the Argentine Secretary of Trade and International Economic Relations, Ambassador Alfredo Chiaradia.

While both Secretaries concurred with the need for and importance of concluding the multilateral negotiations as soon as possible in line with the Doha Development mandate and to liberalise and expand trade, especially in goods and services of special interest to developing countries, they also emphasised the need to correct the current imbalances noticeable in the negotiating text in the key areas of agricultural and non-agricultural goods.

On agriculture, both sides resolved that a substantial cut in the overall trade distorting subsidies should be achieved so as to eliminate the possibility available to developed countries, especially the US and the European Union, of augmenting currently applied support levels.

Green box payments

Simultaneously, it should be ensured that the green box payments are budget neutral and that no distorting subsidies are transferred to the green box (in which permissible subsidies are put).

On market access, both sides said that the linear percentage of a minimum 54 per cent average tariff cut proposed for developed countries in the Chair’s text on agriculture should be respected as also the grant of a significant expansion of tariff rate quotas for sensitive products, which should be transparent and explicit.

On industrial tariffs (NAMA), both sides said that neither India nor Argentina would be willing to a deal that disregards the Doha mandate, the July Framework Agreement of 2004 and the Hong Kong Ministerial Agreement of 2005, stipulating less than full reciprocity in reduction commitments for developing countries to relation to developed nations.

Both sides noted the discussions on enhanced flexibilities up to 14 per cent of tariff rates and of 19 per cent of trade value on developing country members’ sensitive products in NAMA and called for further discussions to enhance both the number of tariff lines as well as trade value to be covered under the flexibilities. Both sides rejected the linkage, especially in the text of the Chairman between the flexibilities and the reduced Swiss formula coefficients which went against the Ministerial mandate.

Meanwhile, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, is in Washington to hold talks with the US and the EU as to how to break the current logjam in both texts to arrive at a convergence on modalities so that a ministerial meeting could be possible in the foreseeable future, officials here said.

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