The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave ex-post facto approval to the approach adopted by India at the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the WTO held in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 15-19, 2015.
The outcomes of the conference referred to as the 'Nairobi Package' included ministerial decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least developed countries (LDCs).
These cover a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for developing countries, public stockholding for food security purposes, a commitment to abolish export subsidies for farm exports and measures related to cotton.
Decisions were also made regarding preferential treatment to LDCs in the area of services and the criteria for determining whether exports from LDCs may benefit from trade preferences. A Ministerial Declaration was also adopted.
In the run-up to the Nairobi Conference, it became clear that the Conference would determine the future of the Doha Round of trade negotiations. While the Round is very important for greater integration of developing countries in the global trading system, a few developed countries were strongly opposed to the continuation of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
India took the stand that the DDA must continue after the Nairobi Conference and no new issues must be introduced into the WTO agenda until the DDA has been completed.
The Nairobi Ministerial Declaration acknowledges that members "have different views" on how to address the future of the Doha Round negotiations, but noted the "strong commitment of all Members to advance negotiations on the remaining Doha issues".
In view of the reluctance of developed countries to agree to continue the Doha Development Agenda post-Nairobi, India negotiated and secured a re-affirmative Ministerial Decision on Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes honouring both the Bali Ministerial and General Council Decisions. The decision commits mmbers to engage constructively in finding a permanent solution to this issue.
