Government refutes BJP charge on WTO

The government today refuted the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegations that India had squandered its negotiating advantages at the World Trade Organisation ministerial in Hong Kong and that the deal was detrimental to the country's farmers and industry.

"It is manifest that the BJP has not understood the implications of this matter for developing nations like India. Both the July 2004 framework agreement and the Hong Kong declaration are incremental steps in a continuum "" from the Doha Ministerial Declaration in 2001 right till the WTO membership finally concludes the negotiations by end-2006," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

India has made substantial gains from the WTO ministerial agreement that takes care of the country's concerns in the agriculture, industry and services sectors without compromising on the country's policy space, a top commerce ministry official said today.

"We have been able to achieve a large aspect of our defensive interests without giving up on our options for future negotiations," Commerce Secretary SN Menon said at a CII conference on WTO here.

He said India would retain the "de minimis" support given to farmers at 10 per cent of the total agricultural production while the provision of special products and special safeguard mechanism would check the surge in cheap farm imports.