Left wants say before WTO talks

Left to submit wish-list to Nath

The Left parties will soon present a list of demands on "critical issues in the WTO" to Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and will ask for their inclusion in the deliberations on India's "negotiating positions" before any international commitments are made.

The Left's WTO wish-list comes after the disagreement over the trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) issues strained the Centre-Left relations during discussions on the Patents Amendment Bill in the Budget Session of Parliament.

"We want the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to bring WTO negotiations to the UPA-Left co-ordination committee forum," said a source in the CPI(M).

The 14-point note asks that India's approach to tariff reduction should be agreed upon only after the agreement on non-tariff barriers is finalised.

The UPA government must "take stock" of the on-going negotiations in the WTO and evolve a "negotiating strategy" that protects "the poorer and more vulnerable sections", says the Left note.

The Left parties claim that the government "appears" to have made "major proposals" on the non-agricultural market access (NAMA), agriculture and the services that would have a major impact on the national economy and agriculture. A number of these issues also involve state subjects, the note says.

Hence, the Left combine that is supporting the UPA government from outside, proposes that the "problems to developing countries" arising from the implementation of the Uruguay Round commitments must be given priority in the current round of negotiations.

"These involve revision of TRIPS to take into account the major health issues and high cost of life-saving drugs, and revisions to the product patents regime that was pushed through in the Uruguay Round," the Left note says.

The note adds that developing countries are still denied market access by non-trade barriers. "India should push for settling the implementation issues before any new commitments for further liberalisation are taken," the note says.

The Left further demands that no tariff quotas should be opened for agricultural commodities. It asks that developing countries must be allowed "special products" which should not be subjected to any reduction in tariff and the use of "special safeguard mechanism" in respect of all agricultural commodities.

It asks that the review of TRIPS be concluded by a "definite" date and that should be before the conclusion of the current round of negotiations. It rejects the "Swiss formula" for tariff reduction and asks that the "average reduction" be used instead for developing countries.

The Left had planned to submit their WTO wish list to the government on Sunday during the UPA-Left co-ordination committee meeting. But they were asked by the government to deal with Kamal Nath directly.