WTO sub-group likely for services

Around 32 countries, including India, the US, those in the European Union and Japan, are considering setting up a sub-group at the World Trade Organisation to speed up negotiations for the services sector, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said today.

"We are exploring the possibility of having a sub-group to negotiate issues in the services sector to see if interests can be narrowed down," Nath told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Unctad.

"We are having discussions on the services sector with the US and the European Union. We have our interests in Mode 1 and Mode 4. It is not limited to outsourcing or immigration. We have stated clearly that there nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed," he said.

On the developments following the WTO mini-ministerial held in China last week, Nath said the general council of the WTO would meet next week to look at options that could be used at the Hong Kong ministerial.

The options would be narrowed down to two or three and considered in the next mini-ministerial, likely to be held in October, he added.

On non-agriculture market access, Nath said India had asked the WTO to look into all the proposals submitted on the matter.

"Pakistan has given a proposal, which is not much different from the one submitted by India, Argentina and Brazil. They have talked of an average while we have talked about each country having its own coefficient," he said.

He reiterated that agriculture was at the core of the negotiations and India had been able to convince the major players that attempts to force the use of Swiss formula in agriculture tariff reduction would not work.

Civil society groups and the farmers' lobby, however, demanded a re-look at the WTO's July framework agreement, saying no to negotiations on market access to developed nations unless agriculture subsidies were reduced.

"The farmers' lobby is united that there cannot be any compromise on agriculture in WTO talks," Bharat Krishak Samaj Executive-Chairman Krishan Bir Chaudhary said.

Contending that the July framework allows rich nations to increase subsidies, Devinder Sharma of Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security said, "The framework hits our farmers and should be reopened to ensure that it addresses the concerns of farmers in developing countries."