India will speak out at the G-20 trade ministers’ meet this week against attempts by some developed countries to conclude the ongoing Doha Round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) by delivering on just a handful of issues “cherry-picked” by them while ignoring the rest.

Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also reject the idea – mooted by the US – of denying countries, including India and China, the concessions (special & differential treatment) that are to be extended to developing nations at the WTO, a Commerce Ministry official told BusinessLine .

“Some developed countries are trying to somehow conclude the Doha Round by getting certain issues that also favour them off the ground while burying the rest. Once the Doha Round, which was to primarily focus on development issues, is out of the way, they would try to move on to others such as competition policy, investment issues, labour, environment and e-commerce, that are not part of the Doha agenda but suit their interests,” the official said, adding that India had to stop that from happening.

New Delhi will try to push the negotiations on agriculture in the right direction and ensure that a permanent solution to the problem of calculation of food procurement subsidies without attracting penalties is in place, the official added.

The US, in a recent paper circulated at the WTO, has called for members to avoid using minimum support prices and input subsidies for farm products — the mainstay of India’s support to its farmers.

The G-20 trade ministers’ meet in Turkey, which will see participation from all 20 members, including the US, China, Argentina, the EU, South Africa and Russia, will focus on the agenda for the WTO ministerial meeting in Nairobi in December. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo is expected to give a presentation on the current state of world trade and trade negotiations.

The potential emerging deliverables that are being talked about by members such as the US, the EU, New Zealand and South Africa, and also the WTO DG, include outcomes on export competition in agriculture, issues to improve transparency and also a package for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

“We would not only want a permanent solution to the issue of food procurement subsidies to be part of the Nairobi deal, but would also insist on a commitment that all other issues from the Doha agenda, including market access in industrial and farm products, would be part of post-Nairobi work, and Doha round would not be called off,” the official said.

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