After climate change, Oppn fires another salvo at Govt on WTO

After the heat it faced on climate change stand for the Copenhagen summit, the government today came under scanner as the Opposition felt that India might come under US pressure on the trade talks in WTO.

"There have been illustrations where we seemed to be getting pressured by developed countries," Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha while participating in a calling attention discussion on the WTO negotiations.

He asked Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma to refrain from mixing foreign policy with trade policy.

"Please keep the current close proximity in the foreign policy away from the trading policy," the senior BJP leader said.

Taking a jibe at the government for following the "Jai Ho America policy", SP leader Amar Singh said the interest of farmers in the country have to be protected even if the government "bows" before the US on the climate change.

However, Sharma rejected the charges saying, "There is no question of being pro-America. We are pro-India. The national interest is supreme to us. We are not under pressure."

The Commerce Minister has recently returned from Geneva after attending the 7th Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation. Though it was not a negotiating conference, the issue of freeing global commerce through Doha deal dominated the discussions at the WTO headquarters.