India against Doha chair's offer on market access

India has opposed the proposals circulated by the chair for Doha negotiations on market access for industrial products saying it would be a failure because of the ongoing attempts to undermine the developmental dimension in the mandates, trade diplomats have said.

The chair, Ambassador Don Stephenson of Canada, had circulated a list of "possible ideas on formula/flexibilities" for developing countries to choose between the coefficients to be used in the formula to cut industrial tariffs and the degree of flexibilities they can avail of to shield certain industrial products from the formula cuts.

Some 30 industrial trade negotiators on Thursday gave their initial assessment to the chair's proposals. These revealed sharp differences among members.

South Africa, India and Argentina of the NAMA-11 coalition, which is seeking development dimension in the market-opening for industrials, said they could not agree with the chair's proposals as these tilted the balance in favour of the industrialised countries.

India's trade envoy to World Trade Organisation, Ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia, told the Room E meeting that the chair's proposals were against the principle of incomplete reciprocity under which the industrialised countries were required to take much bigger commitments than their developing counterparts.

Ambassador Bhatia told the chair that it was incorrect to link the formula and flexibilities that were not part of the mandates.

India said the chair must reflect the proposals tabled by the NAMA-11 coalition for an equitable burden-sharing in commitments between the industrialised countries and their developing counterparts.

He warned the Doha negotiations would be a failure if India's proposals were not adequately reflected in the revised draft text.

But several other countries inside the European Union, the US, Japan, Costa Rica, Singapore and Mexico have supported the chair's options as a basis for continuing further negotiations.

Significantly, Brazil, which is also a member of the NAMA-11 coalition, reached an understanding with the United States and the European Union on how to cut industrial tariffs during a high-profile meeting in London early this week.

The European Union told its member states that the understanding reached with Brazil and the US centered on option two of the sliding scale as proposed by the chair.

Under this option, developing countries willing to accept a lower coefficient will be accorded higher flexibilities.

However, India, Argentina and South Africa have expressed their opposition to this option arguing that it goes against the central principle of less-than-full reciprocity.

Effectively, the unity among developing countries, which is the main driving force in the Doha negotiations, is now signs of fragmentation because of the understanding reached between Brazil, the EU and the US, trade analysts say.