The Hindu : India, China to act in concert on WTO issues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 26, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

India, China to act in concert on WTO issues

By P. S. Suryanarayana

BEIJING June 25. For the first time, India and China have agreed to coordinate their strategies in support of the developing countries within the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A political-level understanding on these lines was reached during the talks that the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Arun Jaitley, held with the Chinese Commerce Minister, Lu Fuyuan, in Beijing today.

The two countries are likely to explore the possibility of initiating a coordinated action in regard to three specific aspects of the issues at this stage in the global trade negotiations. A key aspect will be the search for special safeguard mechanisms on behalf of the developing countries in the field of agriculture.

The other identified areas of possible Sino-Indian cooperation within the WTO framework pertain to TRIPS with reference to public health issues, in the specific context of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration, besides investment policy and the related issue of dispute settlement.

Outlining the new Sino-Indian understanding on these lines, Mr. Jaitley said the significance of any concerted action within the WTO, in pursuit of the interests of the developing countries, should be seen against the reality that the two counties accounted for nearly one-third of the global population.

The compatible Chinese version of today's talks was that Mr. Lu broadly echoed India's sentiments. Mr. Lu agreed with Mr. Jaitley that China and India "share many common interests" in the current context of the "new round of talks (under the) WTO". Mr. Lu told Mr. Jaitley that the two countries should support each other and also work for the interests of the developing countries as a whole.

This altogether new dynamic in the Sino-Indian diplomatic engagement was agreed upon in the follow-up spirit of the summit-level talks that concluded here on Tuesday between the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Chinese leadership, consisting of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, with Jiang Zemin working with them as the elder statesman.

The WTO-related understanding gave a positive twist to the current theories on the international stage that the Indian "tiger" or, alternatively, the Indian "elephant" was beginning to get caught in a fierce competition with the Chinese "dragon" in the economic sphere.

On the bilateral front itself, the Commerce Ministers of the two countries agreed to convene a meeting of the Joint Economic Group (JEG) as soon as possible, perhaps by November/December this year. The last JEG meeting took place in Beijing in 2000.

An immediate goal is to double the existing two-way trade volume of about $ 5 billions within the next few years, by 2005 at the latest. In the first five months of the current calendar year, the two-way trade rose to $ 2.9 billions, reflecting a jump of 70 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

China exported goods worth $ 1.22 billions and its imports from India were of the order of $ 1.68 billion during January-May this year.

It was against this background that Mr. Lu said China would welcome initiatives from India to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

India, China to act in concert on WTO issues

Musharraf committed to stopping cross-border incidents, says U.S.

VHP will be included in talks on Ayodhya: BJP

Hi-tech security for Parliament

'Kargil blocked Kashmir solution'

6 Pakistani prisoners freed

Blast on train

'Foam was the culprit'

Explosion near mosque

`LTTE preparing for war'

Extortion case