India today expressed hope that negotiations on a global trade deal under the WTO's Doha Round of talks will move forward at the forthcoming ministerial meet at Bali in December.
However, it said that if talks on the G-33 proposal of the developing countries like India, which deals with food security issues, did not move forward at the meeting, the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) may also not see any progress.
Under the TFA, a proposal of developed countries, WTO members are negotiating ways to facilitate trade, simplify and harmonise customs rules and reduce transactions cost.
"India is looking for a possible outcome in Bali meet. Last week's development in Geneva do give us a sense of positivity. We feel that things will move.
"But we are also circumspect that if G-33 proposal and some of the developmental elements do not move, then TFA also may not move," Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Rajeev Kher said here at a WTO function. Kher is also India's chief negotiator at WTO.
Although India is willing to negotiate on TFA, it has raised few concerns over the proposed agreement as it would entail huge investments in creating infrastructure at ports and airports.
"TFA is a desirable agreement. But (the way) it is placed on the table, it does not have all the elements the developing countries would want. The proposal mooted by countries like India have to be given equal weightage and equal seriousness," he said.
He added that TFA would put tremendous burden on developing countries like India in terms of requirement of human resource, finances, infrastructure and "more in terms of changing laws and procedures and practices".
The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Bali from December 3-6.
The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the 158-member multi-lateral Organisation which meets at least once every two years.
The Doha talks, launched in 2001, have missed several deadlines for its conclusion due to divergent views on some of the issues between the developed countries like the US and the developing nations such as India.
The G-33 proposal, mooted by developing countries like India and China, is for food security and flexibility in their public stock holding operations for public distribution system.
Kher said during the last 8-10 months, "there is a huge amount of convergence on thinking that something must come out from Bali". However, he expressed concern that if nothing would come out from the meet, people may raise questions on the relevance of the multi-lateral body.
Kher said that WTO's pre-dominance in trade discourse must be upheld. He said some result must come out from the Bali meet on the back of global economic uncertainties.
India is showing flexibility in all the major issues including TFA, he added.
"We have shown tremendous flexibility and we are dropping brackets (resolving contentious matters) very significantly and on the other hand there is a very little movement in the G-33 proposal on food security and that is where the problem is," he said.
He emphasised that all the issues pertaining to both developing and least developed countries should be addressed before reaching any agreement on TFA.
"We would like to see it (TFA) harvested together with other developmental segments of which G-33 proposal is extremely important. We will find it very difficult to agree on TFA harvesting without G33 proposal," he said.
He said that the proposal is open ended and India is ready to negotiate flexibilities and other alternatives.
"The type of flexibilities which should now be shown from the US side is missing," Kher said.
He also expressed concern that if the Bali meet would not deliver anything, there may not be any Doha Round in the future as new agendas have already been emerging out.
Rich nations, including the US, want India and other emerging economies to be part of the four major sectoral pacts TFA, information technology, environmental goods and international services agreement
India has said that it will not accept any agreement on IT and environmental goods as it would adversely impact the domestic industry.
On Indian industry concerns over the free trade agreements, which India is signing, he said that global dynamics of trade is changing and industry should prepare itself to face it.
"Industry will have to realise that we cannot continue to take a defensive approach for too long. We have to have an aggressive approach...Approach which is driven by our strengths and our biggest strengths is our market. We must leverage on this market. We have to take aggressive positions," he said.
Indian industry has said the FTAs were benefiting more the partner nations with which India is implementing those pacts and there is a need to re-look at those FTAs.
India has implemented such pacts with South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Asean and is negotiating a dozen of other similar pacts.
