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The agreement on trade facilitation and public procurement reached by World Trade Organisation (WTO) members on Thursday vindicated the "principled stand" taken by India on food security, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.
“I am happy to report that we have been able to secure an outcome that addresses our concerns,” Sitharaman said in her statement to the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The Minister pointed out that in August she had informed Parliament that India had decided not to join the consensus in the WTO in the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement till its concerns relating particularly to the decision on public stockholding for food security purposes were addressed.
“There was much criticism of this stand in the subsequent months but India stood firm. Over the ensuing months, we concentrated our efforts on explaining our concerns and working with WTO members. These efforts have borne fruit,” she said.
The WTO’s General Council gave its approval to a draft on food procurement which unambiguously states a mechanism under which WTO members will not challenge the public stockholding programmes of developing country members for food security purposes, in case agriculture subsidy caps are breached. The "peace clause" will remain in place in petpetuity until a permanent solution regarding the problem of calculating trade distorting subsidies is sorted out.
India, on its part, gave its support to the protocol on Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) which was also adopted by the General Council. The TFA, being pushed by all major developed countries and a handful of developing countries, is a pact on upgrading customs and border infrastructure and procedures.
“The indefinite continuation of the waiver mechanism ensures the interest of the wTO membership in expeditiously working towards a permanent solution and protects us from the risk of having to accept an unsuitable solution under the threat of a limited duration peace clause coming to an end,” Sitharaman said.
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