 "A file photo of Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman")
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified India’s stand on food security and special agricultural safeguards to World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, at the 10th ministerial conference of the WTO in Nairobi on Tuesday.
Sitharaman said India’s position on the two issues won’t be available as a bargaining chip for other deliberations. She also reiterated India’s view that the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) should be respected and continued.
The inaugural day of the four-day conference on Tuesday saw the minister hold a series of bilateral meetings with her counterparts from five member countries, including one with host country Kenya’s Trade Minister Amina Mohamed.
Trade ministers of 47 countries are taking part in the event.
Supporting India and other nations’ demand for a permanent solution on food security at the WTO, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Hilal Elver on Tuesday, said public stockholding programme is the first line of defence against price shocks in the developing world.
Reports from WTO headquarters in Geneva suggested a growing number of developed countries, led by the US, had initiated a campaign to discontinue talks over the DDA, adopted during the fourth ministerial conference in Doha (2011).
While the agenda had focused on trade concessions to the least developed countries (LDC) in the form of lower trade tariffs and discussions on opening markets to agricultural, manufactured goods, and services, talks had progressed barely in the past 14 years.
India also made it clear that the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) was very important to protect poor farmers as it gives protection from surge in imports or dip in global commodity prices. While India has called SSM a priority, it is supported by international groupings like the G33, BRICS and the African Bloc. Developing countries have demanded that a provision already existing in Article 5 of the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture be amended to provide them the same benefit that rich countries derive from the Special (Agricultural) Safeguards (SSGs).
Again, the issue had divided nations with developed members strictly opposing it. They say it cannot be considered without negotiating all issues in the Doha agriculture market access pillar.
Rich countries also oppose India’s food security program and especially the policy of providing minimum support prices for food crops to farmers, alleging they distort trade prices.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement signed by India in 2014, allows it to maintain its food buffer stocks till a permanent solution is found. But it still cannot export such subsidized food owing to opposition from developed countries alleging it distorts market prices.
Back then, the United States and India had also agreed to a ‘peace clause’ which allows India temporary protection from complaints by other WTO members. India has stressed the clause was off the negotiating table as was the case for all items agreed during and post the Bali conference in 2013.
For a permanent solution, India has proposed either amending the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap of 10 per cent, which is based on the reference price of 1986-88, or allowing such schemes outside the purview of subsidy caps.
Sitharaman has also met her counterparts from Brazil, a key member of the G-33 grouping and Lesotho, holding talks over the issues. She explained the ministers about the importance of special safeguard mechanism for farmers of developing countries including India. Brazil has reportedly also asked for increased market access from India.
