April 16, 1994

Opposition set to take on Govt.

The new GATT treaty is expected to figure prominently in Parliament once again when it reassembles after a month’s recess on Monday... The Lok Sabha had a special two-day sitting on April 29 and 30 to exclusively discuss the Dunkel proposals which formed the basis of the treaty, that was finalised at the officials level in December and ratified by the Governments of 125 countries at Marrakesh yesterday... In both Houses, the Opposition parties from the BJP and Janata Dal to the CPI and CPI (M) had mounted a savage assault on the Government for allegedly kowtowing to the developed nations and asked it to refrain from signing the new world trade pact in its present form

Ficci hails GATT treaty

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has hailed the signing of the GATT agreement, saying that the setting up of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would open up a new chapter in the multilateral trading system. It also hailed the India-led resistance to the social clause and said it was a redeeming feature that issues such as labour standards did not figure in the Marrakesh declaration.

ILO opposes US sanctions against imports from India

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has opposed US sanctions against the import of apparel, carpet and other products from countries such as India, China and Bangladesh with child labour content. While Democratic Senator, Mr. Tom Harkin, and Congressman, Mr. George Brown, and labour leaders favoured sanctions, the ILO representative, Ms. Gabriela Stoikov, said import sanctions would not address the wider problem of child labour.

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