India will not be agreeing to any change in the approach to the Doha Round trade negotiations during the informal ministerial meet to be held in Delhi this week.
The aim at the meeting, which will see participation from negotiators of 37 countries, is to generate an agreement on clear directions to negotiators to re-energise the multilateral process at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The approach followed, so far, in the negotiations has been to get member-countries to agree on modalities for cutting tariffs on agricultural and industrial goods, gradually eliminating export subsidies and reducing agricultural subsidies. At present, negotiating groups bring these draft modalities for discussion.
However, recently there has been a demand for a new approach to the negotiations, of directly notifying individual commitments, skipping the modalities stage. India, which calls such new approaches “euphemisms for getting members to reveal where their sensitivities lie”, will insist in the Delhi meet that the already prepared draft texts on Agricultural and Non Agricultural Market Access (Nama) should be the basis on which further negotiations are held, “in light of the 2010 timeline”.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had announced India’s plan to host the ministerial meet at the Cairns Group meeting at Bali this June, as a precursor to the Pittsburgh Summit of the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors.
Referring to the proposal by some countries to skip the discussions on modalities, Sharma had earlier said the “focus (of Doha talks) should be to re-energise and not re-invent”.
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India will also not agree on any compromise over the food and livelihood security of the poor in developing countries. “The principal aim of India’s negotiating strategy has consistently been to protect the interests of its farmers and industry,” the commerce ministry has clarified.
Also, ensuring a balance between all the issues to be discussed during the talks would be a major element of India’s negotiatiions. That is, equal weight is sought given to be given to areas other than the conventional issue of Nama. Negotiations in Geneva, according to the government, have so far focused on building consensus on agriculture and Nama.
The Delhi meeting would be the first occasion since the impasse in the talks at the mini-ministerial meeting of the WTO in July last year when negotiators with diverse interests would sit together and evolve strategies to break the logjam.
Programme of the meeting
A meeting of the senior officials on September 2 will precede the ministerial meet, which will set the tone for the direction the negotiators could give after the Delhi trade talks.
| November 2001: WTO members meet in Qatar, agree to initiate Doha round of multilateral talks focusing on development and opening of markets in agriculture, manufacturing and services. Goal set to finish the round by Jan 2005 |
| March 2003: Deadline missed for deciding on formula to cut agricultural tariffs, domestic support and export subsidies.Talks in manufacturing and services negotiations fall behind |
| September 2003: Developing countries form the G20 negotiating block led by India and Brazil. Cancun ministerial meeting ends over differences |
| Janusry 2004: US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick suggests countries pick up from Cancun meeting and re-energise talks |
| July 2004: Negotiators agree on a framework for finishing the round in Geneva |
| January 2005: Deadline for finishing the round missed by WTO members |
| Deccember 2005: Fifth ministerial meeting of WTO held in Hong Kong. Agreement to phase out agricultural export subsidies by 2013 achieved. Countries, however, fail to agree on formula for cutting domestic farm subsidies and tariffs |
| April 2006: New agriculture and manufacturing deadlines set in Hong Kong missed |
| July 2006: Negotiations suspended after the G6 fail to break the logjam on agriculture |
| February 2007: WTO says multilateral negotiations in Geneva back in full swing |
| May 2007: WTO warns Doha failure would mean breaking the commitment for a more developing-friendly world trading system |
| June 2007: US Trade Representative, EU Trade Commissioner, Brazilian Foreign Minister and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath meet in Potsdam. Talks collapse over market access, farm subsidies and tariffs |
| July 2008: Disagreement over special safeguard agreement creates impasse at the mini-ministerial in WTO. Small informal group discussion occur in September |
| October 2008: Discussions resume and continue till November |
| November 2008: WTO DG makes a strong push for convening another ministerial in December for finalising modalities for agriculture and NAMA. Several members, including India, express reservations on calling ministers to Geneva with many issues remaining unresolved |
| December 2008: Chairs of the negotiating groups on agriculture and NAMA bring out the fourth revision of the draft modalities for agriculture and NAMA. These texts are yet to be discussed at WTO. The DG decides against convening a ministerial, proposing resumption of talks in early 2009 |
| April 2009: G-20 meeting in London |
| June 2009: Cairns Group meeting in Bali, Indonesia |
| July 2009: Meeting of G-8 plus and APEC trade ministers. Leaders reaffirm commitment to successful completion of Doha round, setting a deadline of 2010 for its conclusion |
The ministerial meeting will begin by mid-day on September 3, with opening statements from WTO Director General Pascal Lamy and the chairs of the negotiating groups on agriculture, Nama and services. Followed by ministerial discussions, including statements by coordinators of various groups and key member-countries.
The ministerial discussions will continue on the second day. Finally, a statement by the chair summarising the conclusions will close the conference in the evening.
The 36 invitees (excluding India) include the Brazil-led members of the G-20 alliance of developing countries, the G-33 Group, the coordinators of the Least Developed Countries group, African group, Caribbean and Pacific countries, Nama-11, Small and Vulnerable Economies, Cotton-4, and the G-10. The US, European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand have also been invited.