India toughened its stand on the need for a permanent solution to the public stockholding of food, saying that failing to achieve it at the WTO's ongoing 11th ministerial meeting here would impact the credibility of the multilateral trading institution.
The Indian team led by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu is slated to meet trade ministers of the member countries and director general of WTO to re-emphasis that the permanent solution to food stockpile issue was a "must have" at the ministerial.
The four-day ministerial conference which began on Sunday ends on Wednesday leaving ministers little time to thrash out the contentious issues.
"India has emphasised that permanent solution was a must have and should be an improvement over the Peace Clause (agreed at Bali)... If not delivered, it would affect the credibility of the WTO," said J S Deepak, Indias Ambassador to WTO.
When asked if there was opposition to permanent solution from some quarters, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said that there was no concerted opposition, but issues regarding transparency and safeguards were being worked out.
"We are working our way to an acceptable ministerial outcome... The minister had said that we dont envisage an outcome without the permanent solution," she said, adding that "deeper engagements on specifics" are expected today and tomorrow.
In his plenary address Prabhu had emphasised that WTO members must find a permanent solution to the public food stockpile issue as it was linked to the survival of 800 million hungry people across the globe.
Besides the public stockholding issue, India is also engaging in several other areas like services, fisheries and e-commerce to ensure that outcomes are in tandem with Indias stated position.
On whether Prabhu would be meeting US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Teaotia said time of the meeting has not yet been fixed.
Lighthizer's remarks questioning special and differential treatment to countries with high GDP yesterday evoked sharp reaction from India which emphasised that it was entitled to benefits under the rules which were integral part of the WTO.
Under the global trade norms, a WTO member country's food subsidy bill should not breach the limit of 10 per cent of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88.
Apprehending that full implementation of food security programme may result in breach of the WTO cap, India has been seeking amendments in the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap.
As an interim measure, the WTO members at the Bali ministerial meeting in December 2013 had agreed to put in place a mechanism popularly called the Peace Clause and committed to negotiate an agreement for permanent solution at the 11th ministerial meeting at Buenos Aires.
Under the Peace Clause, WTO members agreed to refrain from challenging any breach in prescribe ceiling by a developing nation at the dispute settlement forum of the WTO. This clause will be there till a permanent solution is found to the food stockpiling issue.
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