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The Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, addressing the valedictory session of the Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on Agriculture Negotiations in the WTO in the Capital on Wednesday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , July 20

AS the World Trade Organisation (WTO) kicks off an intense 10 days of negotiations beginning on Thursday in Geneva, to evolve the July Approximation for negotiations in various areas, in the run-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting in December 2005, India today made it clear that there are certain "lakshman rekhas beyond which we shall not venture".

Indicating this at a valedictory session of the pre-Hong Kong Ministerial Stakeholder Workshop on Agriculture Negotiations, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, stated that there should be an urgent end to export subsidies and substantial reductions in domestic support provided by developed countries to their farm sector. He said categorically that these measures must precede market access into developing countries and "not the other way around".

Mr Kamal Nath said that it was also time to set "a credible end date for eliminating export subsidies of all forms" and lay out a programme without backloading of these commitments in the guise of food aid.

He said the G-20 has proposed a standstill in export subsidies, coupled with frontloading of elimination commitments so that the more obvious forms of distorting policies are eliminated by 2010.

The Minister also said that developing countries that did not have any aggregate measure of support commitments such as India could not be required to reduce the minimal support extended by them to their vulnerable farming sector through their de minimum entitlements.

"Insofar as developing countries are concerned, the commitments in market access would have to be subject to the requirements of alleviating poverty, promoting rural development and safeguarding the livelihood and food security that are central to their economic growth and improvements in living standards.

"This is an integral part of the July Framework of 2004. Therefore it remains essential that developing countries like India are afforded sufficient policy space and flexibilities in instruments," the Minister contended.

Earlier, briefing newspersons on the two-deliberations of the workshop, the Special Secretary, Department of Commerce, Mr G.K. Pillai, said the prospects for the Hong Kong ministerial remains "quite bleak" with the developed countries' poor response to the demand for cuts in domestic support and elimination of export subsidies for their farmers.

Mr Devendar Sharma of the Forum for Food Security and Bio-Diversity said that India and other developing countries should link up the demand for opening up market access to the developing countries to the removal of subsidies by the developed countries.

The stakeholders at the workshop demanded that there should be strong discipline and reduction in support provided by developed countries for their farm sector.

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