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With elections in mind, the Cabinet Committee on WTO-related matters, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has apparently given the mandate to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma to take a tough stand on India's strategy at the coming ninth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC9) in Bali, Indonesia.
Although it has decided to agree to an interim measure that will remove the limit on food subsidies, it will seek "binding commitments" from developed countries to continue with the adhoc agreement until a permanent solution is fully achieved.
It seems on the much controversial peace clause (PC) or due restraint clause under the chapter of Public Stockholding For Food Security Purposes, the government had decided to take a position wherein it would seek an interim measure until a permanent solution was achieved to remove the cap on food subsidies for farm support, sources told Business Standard.
In the final draft of the negotiating texts circulated by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo to all the 159 trade ministers from member countries, it has been suggested that the PC will be valid until the 11th ministerial, which is expected to take place in 2017 and that a permanent solution on the matter will only be taken after the conference in Bali.
However, the government has now decided that though it will agree to an interim measure, it will ask WTO members to retain its validity until a permanent solution has been "agreed and delivered" by all members, especially by the US and EU, irrespective of which ministerial conference it is going to be.
While the government is not opposed to the decision of the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee of considering a permanent solution later, it wants the matter to be granted topmost priority in the post-Bali agenda.
Additionally, it was also decided in the Cabinet on Thursday that during the Bali meet, India will also ask for "complete immunity" on the PC from any sort of challenge or dispute. According to the final draft negotiating text by the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee, members will not challenge those countries which will provide those agricultural subsidies for farm growth, currently prohibited under the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) of the WTO.
But, the Cabinet decided that India will seek to get the PC immune from trade disputes also under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM), which is not the case at present.
Finally, the government has said until all these demands are accepted in Bali, it might not be able to grant its consent for the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) that sought to simplify customs rules globally, which was something that the developed countries were pushing for a long time.
This is for the first time that the government is facing a WTO ministerial with general elections just few months away.
The MC9 is scheduled to take place from December 3 to 6 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Centre.
