India has open mind on trade issues: PM

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 20. The Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, today stressed that India was prepared to engage ``constructively and with an open mind'' with developed countries on all issues relating to global trade. Speaking with reference to the forthcoming Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at Doha, he sought to put the country's stance on launching a new round of trade negotiations in the perspective of concerns raised by developing countries.

Apparently seeking to dispel the impression that India has taken a rigid stand on the new trade round, he said the ``unmet promises and unfulfilled obligations of the developed nations made in the Uruguay Round have cast the legitimate concerns of developing nations into a sharper focus in the run up to the Doha Ministerial Conference.'' He felt that the principle of affirmative action justified and demanded reasonable protection for the developing countries and assistance for the least developed countries.

Mr. Vajpayee clarified that this was the rationale for India's insistence that the incomplete agenda of the Uruguay Round should be first completed before starting any new round of trade negotiations. In an obvious reference to suggestions that India may find itself isolated at Doha, he noted that India's position was shared by many developing countries.

Mr. Vajpayee, while agreeing to ``engage constructively'' on trade issues, emphasised that India remained opposed to the inclusion of non-trade issues such as labour and environmental standards which might furnish scope for misuse as non-tariff barriers.

He said India faced unfair tariff and non-tariff barriers in steel, textiles, clothing and leather products.

Mr. Vajpayee was speaking at the inauguration of an international conference on ``concerns of developing nations in the WTO regime'' organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in collaboration with the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

He sought to highlight the way in which advances in science and technology could affordably meet the basic needs of the poor and the deprived. He referred specially to two concerns in the intellectual property rights regime. First, he felt there should be no misappropriation of the biological and genetic resources and traditional knowledge of the developing countries. It was thus necessary to mandate that patent applications revealed the country of origin of such resources and traditional knowledge used in the product or process for which the patent was sought. A letter of informed consent should also be furnished from their legitimate custodians.

Second, he said developing countries had a duty to ensure availability and affordability of the latest medicines for life- threatening diseases. The TRIPs agreement should enable every member country to take a broad range of measures for protecting and promoting healthcare.

On agriculture, he pointed out that the Uruguay Round did not bring about trade liberalisation in this sector to any appreciable extent. There were no significant reductions in domestic support or export subsidies by the developed world. As for the Agreement on Agriculture, he noted that it has had limited success in opening markets of the developed world to the South.

Earlier, the Law, Justice and Company Affairs Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, said the country had to prepare itself for the art of negotiations and drafting of agreements and new legislation in the new world economic order.

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