India to put pressure on WTO to focus on food security issues

India has decided to increase pressure on the World Trade Organisation to expedite negotiations on food security matters to ensure that these are not thrust to the background at the next Ministerial meet in Buenos Aires in December.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called for a meeting of officials dealing with WTO issues, including the team representing India at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, to come up with a work plan.

“All issues related to food security were ignored at the last Ministerial meet in Nairobi two years ago with the excuse that members held divergent positions. We will have to see to it that in the next Ministerial the same excuse can’t be used,” a Commerce Ministry official said.

According to Sitharaman, who addressed a press conference on Tuesday, the Ministry will carry out a stock-taking exercise of all developments at the WTO post-Nairobi and decide how to move ahead. New Delhi will also have to work out how to ensure the continuation of the on-going Doha round of talks, with several development issues on the agenda, that many want developed countries want scrapped.

“The line to take on new issues such as e-commerce and environment being pushed by rich countries also has to be firmed up,” the official said.

India and other members of the G-33 group of developing countries in agriculture have been trying to push the WTO into starting work on a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to protect farmers in developing countries and a permanent solution to the public stockholding programme for a while. However, influential members such as the US and the EU, have not shown any interest in speeding up negotiations.

“The Commerce Ministry would strategise on how to go about building pressure at the WTO to ensure that the required number of meetings take place on the issues related to food security and members work towards an agreement in December,” the official said.

India will have to work individually as well as in alliances already formed such as the G-33. “We need to talk to the African group and the smaller nations to get their active support,” the official added.

At the Nairobi Ministerial meet, all members agreed to work on a SSM for developing countries that would enable them to raise import duties on agriculture items in case imports rose steeply or there was a sharp fall in domestic prices. The Nairobi declaration also stated that meetings must be held in an “accelerated time frame” to arrive at a permanent solution to the problem of public stock-holding which is necessary to avoid a situation when such programs get penalised.

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