It has also said that these issues must first be studied by Unctad. India is arguing that further liberalisation in services and agriculture should be taken up in the second phase.
The Indian position was enunciated at the recent meeting in Jakarta which was held to formulate the agenda for the WTO ministerial meeting in Singapore in December. Among the developed countries, Australia, Japan, Germany and France were present at the meeting. The United States did not attend.
Most of the developing countries felt that the agenda for the meeting should not be overloaded and that there should be no negotiations on new issues at the meeting in December. The Singapore meeting is to concentrate on the progress so far and review the various agreements entered into under the aegis of the WTO.
Germany and France did not intervene in the talks. Australia said it was not interested in including labour standards in the December agenda. Japan maintained that an unconditional discussion without any obligations could be held at the December meeting on the proposed investment treaty.
Commerce secretary Tejendra Khanna went to Geneva in March for consultations on the agenda for the conference. The developed countries have been keen to include several new issues on the agenda like the so-called social clause and a multilateral investment treaty.
Commerce ministry officials said India is at present concentrating all her efforts on ensuring that no new issues appear on the agenda.
India has said the WTO must first attempt to review the progress on the existing issues