India strengthens team for WTO

By Sushma Ramachandran

NEW DELHI, APRIL 18. With the World Trade Organisation (WTO) becoming an increasingly powerful multilateral institution, India has decided to strengthen its negotiating team by appointing a senior foreign service official for a three-year tenure. It is timely as it should give enough time for the new incumbent to familiarise himself with key issues before the Qatar Ministerial conference is held in November.

The Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee convened a conference of the State Chief Ministers on April 23 to discuss the impact of the WTO on the farm sector. Concern is clearly growing over the ability of India and other developing countries to resist pressure by developed countries to push through an agenda detrimental to the South at the WTO.

It is for this reason that the Government has finally decided to end the ad-hocism in appointments to the WTO and appoint an Ambassador for a full three-year term. The Deputy High Commissioner in the U.K., Mr. Hardip Puri, who has been cleared for this post is expected to take over as soon as the Commerce Ministry issues orders. The present Ambassador to the WTO, Mr. S. Narayanan has been given several extensions after his three-year tenure ended in 1997 and is due to retire by September this year. It was widely felt that India's WTO Ambassador should have a longer tenure rather than work on the basis of annual extensions given the crucial role of the country's representative at Geneva.

Officials and the experts alike who have welcomed the new appointment now expect that Mr. Puri would asked to move to Geneva prior to Mr. Narayanan's retirement to have a fuller understanding of the numerous and complex issues involved in the WTO negotiations well in advance of the Qatar Ministerial conference. Since India has taken a firm stance till now that a new round of trade negotiations is not necessary, the country's representative at the WTO headquarters would have to do considerable diplomatic lobbying to ensure support from other developing countries on this issue. Besides, the Government is in the midst of crucial negotiations with the key players in the WTO such as the European Union and the U.S. over the proposed agenda for the next ministerial conference. The developed world is now prepared for a limited rather than a comprehensive new round, but the Indian position remains that the issue of implementation of earlier agreements needs to be completed before new negotiations can begin.

In this context, sources point out that Mr. Puri has considerable experience in the area of GATT as well as WTO issues. He was a member of the Indian delegation to GATT in Geneva from 1981 to 1984 and also served as a the chairman of the subsidies committee of GATT and member of the Textile Surveillance Body. Subsequently, he served as coordinator of the UNDP funded programme for technical assistance for developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region for the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations from 1988 to 1991. He was involved in the GATT and the WTO dispute settlement work in 1994 serving as chairman of committees involving disputes against the U. S. regarding countervailing duties on hot rolled lead and carbon steel flat products from several EU countries. He was also chairman of a WTO committee examining Japanese taxes on alcoholic beverages in 1996.

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