Maran against new trade round at WTO

By Sushma Ramachandran

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. The Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, has firmly opposed proposals for a new round of trade negotiations at the coming World Trade Organisation ministerial conference at a time when the European Union and the U.S. have banded together to seek ``an ambitious new round''.

Despite repeated pleas by developing countries to ensure implementation of existing agreements before moving on to new issues, the North is making its intentions clear so that the stage is set for a new round to be launched at the November conference. The timing of the E.U.-U.S. joint statement in Geneva is significant since the WTO Director-General, Mr. Mike Moore, has repeatedly said a decision in principle has to be taken by July in case a new round is to be launched at Doha in November.

It is no wonder then that Mr. Maran is seeking to ensure that the Indian stance is clearly spelt out though opposition to the new round has been voiced during a series of discussions over the past year with envoys from developed countries including the U.S. and the E.U. as well as with the WTO chief. Since India is viewed as a key interlocutor among developing countries, the process of consultation has been intense with the E.U. having suggested a ``limited new round''. But even this has not been viewed with favour by the India.

Mr. Maran has warned that the posture taken by the developed countries does not augur well for the WTO as it implies that the imbalance and inequities will remain for developing countries. At a meeting with mediapersons he said developing countries had already paid the price by agreeing to some controversial issues in the Uruguay round of trade negotiations. The imbalances would increase if India agreed to a new round.

Referring to the earlier TRIPs and TRIMs agreements, he said the South had paid the price in the form of signing these agreements. But this ``down payment'' could not be made a second time. In this context, he felt the WTO was already overburdened with mandated negotiations containing around 200 items.

On the new issues being proposed, he said fresh obligations such as investment protection for multinationals were sought to be included while efforts were being made to link trade with non- trade issues. India and other developing countries would not accept bringing non-trade issues on the agenda for talks.

While Mr. Maran was vehement that a new round should not be launched, the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, was reported to have said in Washington that her party was agreeable to a fresh round of trade negotiations. At the same time, she concurred with the Government that non-trade issues should not be allowed to be taken up at the WTO saying the implementation of existing agreements was more important than any new round. Even so, it may be time for the Government to consult political parties so that a uniform stance is adopted on crucial policy issues such as the WTO on public fora abroad. This is all the more important since there already exists a broad political consensus on multilateral trade issues and differences, if any, are on minor aspects.

In Brussels, the Confederation of Indian Industry president, Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, said Indian industry was open to suggestions for a new round while noting that there would have to be more clarity on the proposed agenda.

At the last ministerial conference in Seattle, representatives of leading political parties and industry were taken along with the official delegation to ensure their wholehearted backing to the policies in the sensitive area of the multilateral trade negotiations. The process of evolving a consensus among all sections needs to be initiated right now so a common strategy is chalked out well in advance of the Doha ministerial conference in November.

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