Indian position unchanged: Maran

By AMIT BARUAH

SINGAPORE, OCT. 13. The Indian position on implementation issues flowing from the Uruguay round of trade negotiations remains unchanged, the Union Commerce Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, said today.

Speaking to presspersons after a day-long informal ministerial meeting of 22 countries, he said, ``all our known views'' were restated at the meeting. The phased treatment of implementation issues was not acceptable to India, he added.

Referring to the linkages being drawn between the issue of terrorism and free trade, Mr. Maran said if the world community stood united on the issue of tackling terrorism then there was a need to narrow down differences on trade issues. There were also no plans to change the schedule of the Doha Ministerial Meeting which will take place from November 9 and 13.

Most delegations to the WTO are playing their cards close to their chest possibly as a part of their negotiating strategies. An official briefing at the end of the meeting is scheduled for tomorrow while other delegations, too, will brief the press separately.

Earlier, the Singapore Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, said a ``new round'' of trade negotiations had acquired a negative connotation. He suggested that the term ``compact'' could instead be used.

``Geneva has debated for months on the technicality of the new round. At Doha, the Trade Ministers should rise above the technicalities and address the political issues. Do we or do we not want a more peaceful and prosperous life for our people? Launching a new round (of trade negotiations) is a political decision, not a technical one,'' Mr. Goh said.

The September 11 terrorist attacks had probably tipped the world into a global recession. ``There is now great uncertainty as the war against terrorism is still being played out... A prolonged global recession cannot be ruled out. Trade Ministers can do much to help push the world away from the brink of disaster. September 11 does not merely mark the conflict between civilised behaviour and terrorism. It also marks the conflict between globalisation and isolationism, between free trade and protectionism,'' he added.

``If this conflict is won by the terrorists, it would likely lead to victory by anti-globalists and the protectionists too. This would not be good for developing and the least developing countries. Globalisation and global trade are their best hope for economic development. We must help them to secure this brighter future.''

``Given the vulnerable global economic outlook, given the threat of global terrorism, the technical differences among the WTO members pale in comparison to the global situation...'' Mr. Goh said.

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Section  : International
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