Govt contests Left stand on WTO

A meeting between Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and representatives of the Left could not be held today because the Parliament House security refused to let two Left leaders,not members of Parliament, into the complex.

Upset at the treatment, SR Pillai (CPI-M) and D Raja (CPI) went home. But a truncated delegation led by Rupchand Pal (CPI-M) did hand over a note to Nath in which the Left parties demanded a white paper on the government's stance at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The government said it would organise a fresh meeting with the Left at a mutually suitable date.

Reacting to some of the items in the 14-point Left note, commerce and industry ministry officials said the demand that India should stick with other developing countries did not hold ground as developing countries lacked a common perception on issues.

The ministry also contested the Left charge that India had abandoned the leadership of developing countries and was favouring a "capital-intensive and farm business-driven agriculture". It was particularly visible in the decision to team up with the Five Interested Parties, the Left note said.

"There is no unity among developing countries on all issues at the WTO. For instance, Pakistan will be more than willing to cut farm tariffs, say 15 per cent, as it is not a major agriculture economy. We cannot agree to that," an official told Business Standard.

Officials said India would have to look at issue-based coalitions at the WTO. "We have to look after our own interests and stick with countries on similar issues," they said.

Calling for a debate in Parliament before finalising the strategy, Left parties said the south-south co-operation should be the bedrock of India's strategy at the WTO and there should be no issue-based coalitions with the EU or the US.

On non-agricultural market access (NAMA) issues, officials said the Left's view that India should not reduce tariffs was not tenable as in several sectors, industry was willing to lower tariffs in exchange for market access.

"Even developing countries, which have had to lower tariffs as part of the conditionalities of the IMF do not perceive India's demand for policy space well," they said.

The 14-page Left note said: "If we do not question and change the agreement on agriculture we will end by furnishing access to our markets to the corporate-led, highly subsidised and hence artificially low-priced imports from the developed countries to the detriment of the beleaguered peasantry".

The draft also calls for redeployment of quantitative restrictions as a stratagem to ensure more equitable trade. It seeks the elimination of all export subsidies in the developed countries in a time-bound manner.

It said conditional safeguards like "sensitive and special products" and "special safeguard measures" would not be equal to the "task of meeting the stupendous problems that the rural masses will continue to face in the wake of further integration of our agriculture with the world agriculture market".

On the NAMA, the note said non-linear ABI formula should be considered and non-tariff barriers should be addressed concurrently with the tariff reduction.