India to draw up farm tariff formula

India and Brazil have opposed the tariff reduction formula proposed by the US and European Union at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)with the just concluded agriculture negotiations ending without making any headway.

The two developing countries indicated that they were working on an alternative approach to reduce tariffs.

The formula which India and Brazil are working on is likely to draw from the elements of the formula floated by Stuart Harbinson, former chairman of the agriculture committee at WTO, reports said.

The US and the EU have been insisting on the blended formula for reducing tariffs, which was part of the draft framework floated at the failed WTO ministerial meeting at Cancun (Mexico) in September last year.

The US-EU formula could mean, depending on what numbers are eventually inserted into the formula, that developing countries, along with developed ones, would have to lower their tariffs and open their markets to competition.

From the US' and the EU's point of view, these concessions were necessary if they are to dismantle their domestic subsidy programme.