| Ficci president Y K Modi said at a press meet here today that the government should not enter into any multilateral trade pacts and bilateral agreements on FTAs concerning agriculture sector till such time the country's agriculture productivity levels were on par with those in the developed nations. |
| This was necessary as the Indian agriculture was still exposed to the vagaries of nature. |
| Modi was all praise for the recent efforts by the government during the recent multilateral talks at Geneva. He said the key issues like elimination of farm export subsidies by the developed nations, reduction in trade-distorting agricultural support were effectively tackled by the Indian delegation. This had been the long felt demand of Ficci, he said. |
| According to the Ficci president, another issue raised for long by the chamber was also taken up by the government at Geneva. |
| The government effectively addressed special and differential treatment for developing countries in terms of provision of 'special products' as well as a special safeguard mechanism which would help guard against any surge in imports of agricultural products. |
| Modi observed that the government should actively engage itself in WTO negotiations, pursue FTAs with the right partners. Besides stepping up India's competitiveness through sourcing of inputs and raw materials at competitive rates, FTAs also would result in the expansion of markets. |
| He cited an example of how India's exports to Sri Lanka increased from Rs 2,163 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 6,067 crore in 2003-04. |
| The government should make all efforts to leverage both multilateralism and FTAs to create greater market access for the Indian goods and services, he said. |
| Ficci senior vice-president Onkar S Kanwar and Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra were also present at the press conference. |
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