Trade unions demand white paper on WTO talks

The trade unions today demanded a white paper on the forthcoming World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks from the government. They also sought a detailed examination of the gains and losses made by India in the last 10 years as part of the multilateral trade organisation.

The demand was raised at a consultative meeting convened by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath with political parties and trade unions. Among the political parties, only the RJD and the DMK attended the meeting, while trade unions included the CITU, AITUC, INTUC and BMS.

The trade unions also demanded that the government protect small and medium enterprises from unfair competition. The political parties and unions were unanimous in their opinion that the government must continue to be cautious on opening up the agricultural sector.

"The unanimous view was that market access should not be provided unless developed countries agree to undertake real cuts in their trade-distorting subsidies," said an official.

In the services sector, the unions want public services like health, education, water and infrastructure services to be excluded from the negotiations. They also objected to the developed countries recommendation that there be a universal binding on industrial tariff.

"Developed countries must remove non-tariff barriers," said Amarjeet Kaur of the AITUC. The unions also demanded that any commitment made by the government be ratified by Parliament and since agriculture is a state subject, any commitment on that too needed to be ratified by state legislatures.

This is the last in the series of political consultations held by Nath before he leaves for Hong Kong for the next round of ministerial level meetings.

Parliament is scheduled to discuss the issue tomorrow, amid the din over the Volcker report. It remains to be seen whether the discussion takes place.