Agreement cannot be quantified: Maran

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, OCT. 14 The Union Commerce Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, said today that he did not want to give a ``quantitative measurement'' on the extent of agreement on a draft Ministerial declaration discussed by Trade Ministers from 21 countries over the week-end.

``I don't have the quantitative measurement, I am very sorry,'' Mr. Maran said when asked to comment on remarks made by the U.S. Trade Representative, Mr. Robert Zoellick, that ``75 per cent agreement'' had been reached on the draft declaration.

Addressing a press conference, the Commerce Minister said he was happy to go to Doha despite hints of a possible change in venue for the Doha Ministerial Meeting, the dates of which (November 9- 13) may well remain the same.

Asked to comment on a remark made by the European Union Trade Commissioner, Mr. Pascal Lamy, that a ``quasi- consensus'' had been reached on implementation issues, Mr. Maran said: ``There can only be consensus, not quasi-consensus.''

``In the draft (declaration), all the implementation issues have been divided into three annexures... we wanted the language in annexure one and annexure two improved and issues not covered in these brought forward. The remaining issues should be addressed through a credible process,'' he said.

Improvements needed

Implementation issues, Mr. Maran said, constituted the ``cornerstone of the edifice of demands'' of developing countries. Asked if India was ``satisfied'', he said: ``We are not at all fully satisfied. Substantial improvements are necessary...''

Asked what India's position on a new round of trade negotiations following the discussions in Singapore was, Mr. Maran said: ``It is not a question of round. What is important is the issues we are going to take up (for discussion).''

Mr. Maran said there was controversy on the word ``round'' - there was no mention of the word in the draft declaration. There were also proposals that a new term be used to replace ``round''.

``What we are interested in is the issues... what will be the pains and gains for a country like ours. These are the important issues... you can call it by any name,'' he said.

After the September 11 attacks in the U.S., the whole world was ``one''. At this point of time, we should not create a cleavage by creating two categories of ``developed and developing'' countries.

India had ``strong reservations'' about what are called ``Singapore issues'' - of competition and investment. Some other countries had similar views on the question, he said. The Commerce Minister said the Singapore meeting had served a useful purpose. Some countries agreed that annexure one and two should be merged, the language in them improved and the remaining issues put in a fast-track process for a resolution.

``This is not Doha (where the formal Ministerial meeting is to be held), this is Singapore... there are 142 countries which are WTO members. They are the people who should decide,'' Mr. Maran said.

Asked if he was ``upbeat`` about the launch of a new round, Mr. Maran said, ``There is no question of upbeatness. Simply about 20 countries exchanged views about the draft... it (the new round) all depends on the reaction of other countries...'' The Commerce Minister also wondered whether ``today's stand'' would continue until Doha.

Asked whether he was concerned at Doha being the ``venue'', Mr. Maran replied: ''No, not at all.``

Asked to what extent India's views represented those of other developing countries, the Commerce Minister said that developing countries had not formed any kind of alliance.

Asked if there was agreement that the new round be called ``new development agenda'', Mr. Maran said ``nobody'' had agreed to this. Mr. Maran, who called it ``development round'', said if this was the case it should include ``all development issues''.

``If you want to call it development round, let's collect all development issues and discuss them and categorise them,'' Mr. Maran added.

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