Call for NAM-model grouping

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 24. The State Planning Board member, Mr. E. M. Sreedharan, has said that a grouping of less developed countries, modelled on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), was essential at the global trade talks to resist impositions by the U.S. and other developed countries.

Making the theme presentation at a seminar on ``WTO: Seattle and After'' at the AKG Centre for Research and Studies here today, Mr. Sreedharan said one positive outcome of the Seattle negotiations was the solidarity displayed by the Third World countries against the attempts by the U.S. to impose its agenda. ``In that sense, Seattle marked a new beginning,'' Mr. Sreedharan said.

The Planning Board member, who took the stage in the absence of Dr. Biplab Das Gupta, MP, who could not reach here on account of fog in Delhi, said a ``transnational feudal structure'' comprising the patent- holders was emerging at the global level. This trend, he said, must be resisted.

Mr. Sreedharan pointed out that what could hurt India most, apart from the new patent regime sought to be enforced by the U.S. and others, was the conditions regarding market access. He also felt that the country's self-reliance in foodgrains production stood threatened on account of the new economic policies which envisaged sharp cuts in subsidies.

Participating in the seminar, Prof. Ninan Koshy, said the WTO existed in a policy vacuum at the international level. The WTO was being promoted at the expense of agencies of the U.N. concerned with trade and related issues and had neither accountability or transparency in WTO's decision-making process.

While India's role in the Seattle talks had been appreciated widely, it remained to be seen if India would continue to stand by the poor majority. ``Are we opposed only to the administrative set-up of the WTO or are we opposed also to the percepts on which the WTO was founded?'' he asked. The WTO could not remain immune from these and other questions. The U.N. agencies themselves have begun questioning the WTO, he said.

Dr. K. P. Kannan of the Centre for Development Studies, pointed out that the U.S. was for long opposed to the WTO and making agriculture a subject of international trade talks, as it wanted to retain the several protective barriers it had erected. It was now pushing for an Agreement on Agriculture, but had not succeeded fully in its endeavour on account of resistance from Europe and Japan.

China, he pointed out, had always been self-serving in its trade negotiations despite the fact that it had greater voice in trade negotiations on account of its higher share in world trade. Seattle was, thus, only a temporary victory and could produce substantive results only if pursued vigorously, he added.

Dr. M. Kunhaman of the University Department of Economics also spoke.

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