NEW DELHI : India today expressed concern over slow progress in finalising the agenda for the Nairobi ministerial meeting of WTO members in December to resolve pending issues of Doha round.
At the meeting, India wants to bring back issues related to the long-stalled Doha round including agriculture (export subsidies, cotton and fishery subsidies), intellectual property rights, market access and services.
“What is happening essentially (in the WTO) is a debate going on for setting an agenda for the ministerial meeting. The date which is…July for setting up an agenda seems to be approaching fast but we seem to be going nowhere. This is a clear indication that in the multi-lateral fora, we will continue to show being busy without producing much,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher today said at a Ficci event.
The next Ministerial Conference, which is the highest decision making body of the World Trade Organization, is scheduled from December 15-18 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Doha Round of negotiations launched in 2001 have remained stalled since July 2008 due to differences between the rich and the developing nations mainly over the subsidies given to farmers.
Besides this, the members have to discuss issues which were not deliberated upon in the Bali meeting in 2013 and that include matters related with least developed countries.
WTO members are unable to finalise the agenda because of differences on the priority order of the issues at the Nairobi Ministerial meeting.
“We are at a point where WTO’s mechanism has not kept pace with the need of the hour…We are also at a point where the world is going through a transformational phase and therefore it is natural that in this phase it will be very difficult for the WTO to come out with results,” he said.
However, Kher added that despite the slow pace of negotiations, WTO have not lost its relevance. And it is an institution of hope for large number of countries and that cannot be undermined.
“It is important for India that it maintains its position in the WTO,” he said.
Speaking on the free trade agreements, the Commerce secretary said that Indian industry still have reservations over these pacts.
“India has conventional set of FTAs and therefore the new breed of FTAs have to be much more aggressive and much more strategically and technically evolved,” he said.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said increasing exports would also lead to rise in imports and the country should be prepared for that.
“Trade reform is going to involve political costs domestically. It’s great you are going to export, but you are also going to import a lot. There are going to be dislocation cost, political cost, economic costs. Maybe they will be transitory, hopefully, may be they will be overwhelmed by the benefits of this,” Subramanian added.
Despite all these challenges, “I think double digit
growth, according to new number, are within the grasp. We should cease the moment”, Subramanian said.
Kher said meanwhile that India is negotiating seven free trade pacts and that includes Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Peru, Russia, Thailand, Australia and Canada.
“The foucs has to move from negoatiating a conventional agreement and it has to more focused on product or service specific ecosystem,” the Commerce Secretary said.
Further he said that India needs to look tariff optimisation in several sectors.
“We have not looked at tariff optimisation for a long time. We did it in 2006 or 2007. Manufactured goods tariff are not too high but agri tariffs are very high. If we want to play an important role in agro-processing, we will have to loom at agro-tariffs,” Kher said.
Speaking at the occasion, DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant said to create more number of jobs and boost economic growth, exports should be grow at about 20 per cent per annum.
Kant said that there is a need to take steps to radically reducing transactions cost for the industry.
“You need reforms in services. There is no need at all why chartered accountants, lawyers are controlled in India? All for vested interest. You need to open them up,” he said.
The DIPP Secretary said that reform must go beyond IT and ITeS sector. (AGENCIES)
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