Prime Minister Narendra Modi will urge US President Barak Obama to be sensitive to India’s food security concerns and not block a ‘permanent solution’ at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that would allow the country to continue with its procurement programmes without attracting sanctions.
Modi was briefed on the latest developments at the WTO by senior officials of the Commerce Ministry on Monday to prepare him for his interaction with the US President on the crucial issue.
“India’s food security concern is high on the PM’s agenda. He hopes to convince the US President of the country’s need to implement its food security legislation without the fear of breaching caps,” a Commerce Ministry official told
Modi is scheduled to meet Obama for an official bilateral meeting in Washington DC on September 29.
Trade facilitation India and the US (backed by many developed countries and some developing countries) are locked in a battle at the WTO over the implementation of a trade facilitation pact for upgrading border infrastructure and streamlining customs procedures, which New Delhi has refused to support till its food security concerns are sorted out.
As the present rules of the WTO classify India’s MSP (minimum support price) programme for foodgrain procurement as trade distorting, it is subject to a cap of 10 per cent of total agriculture production.
India wants the rules to be changed as it could breach the ceiling for rice in the next few years once its food support programme is fully implemented and attract economic sanctions from other member countries.
“The PM will point out to Obama that India’s total farm subsidies were just $12 billion annually compared to $100 billion given by the US.
“Since the subsidies are mostly to support poor farmers and guarantee food to the poor, these shouldn’t be targeted,” the official said. Modi will assure Obama that India had no problems with the provisions of the trade facilitation pact supported by the US and would give it the go-ahead as soon as its concerns on food security were met.
The US is angry with India for not supporting a trade facilitation pact by July 31 this year, as it had promised to do so at a meeting of trade ministers of WTO member countries in Bali last December.
Although in Bali, India had settled for an interim solution promising no action against the country for breaching food subsidy limits till a permanent solution was found by 2017, it later changed its position and asked for an immediate solution as it felt that the conditions attached to the interim solution were too rigid.