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India rejects WTO offer on food security rules -Asit Ranjan Mishra
-Live Mint


Anand Sharma urges updating of rules under agriculture deal to fix ‘inherent flaws', help developing countries

New Delhi: India on Monday rejected the World Trade Organization's (WTO) offer on food security rules in its present form ahead of the biannual ministerial conference of the multilateral trade body beginning Tuesday in Bali, further hardening India's position on the issue.

The present draft text prepared in Geneva provides developing countries temporary relief of up to four years, during which they cannot be challenged under the agreement on agriculture if they cross the permissible food subsidy ceilings, but it does not provide such a guarantee under the agreement on subsidies and countervailing duties.

"As a responsible nation, we are committed to a constructive engagement for finding a lasting solution. But till such time that we reach there, an interim solution which protects us from all forms of challenge must remain intact," trade minister Anand Sharma said at a meeting of the Group of 33 (G-33) developing countries in Bali.

Stressing that procurement and public stockholding for food security are invaluable instruments used by developing countries to secure interests of the poor and vulnerable, Sharma urged updating of WTO rules under the agriculture agreement to "rectify inherent flaws" and help developing countries carry out such "legitimate" operations without defaulting on their commitments. "The G-33 proposal on food security aims to address the problems faced by developing countries due to outdated WTO rules which base agriculture subsidy calculation on external reference prices of 1986-88, even as global food prices have increased manifold during this period. It is surely reasonable that we should not be asked to peg farm support calculations on prices which were prevailing thirty years ago," he added.

Criticizing developed countries, Sharma said while developing countries had shown a spirit of cooperation and pragmatism in the negotiations in Geneva, the same spirit had been "sadly" missing in the positions of some of the members from the developed world. "For decades, handful of farm lobbies of some countries have shaped the discourse and determined the destiny of millions of subsistence farmers of the developing countries. The massive subsidization of the farm sector in the developed countries is not even a subject matter of discussion, leave aside serious negotiations," he said.

Stressing the need for fair balance in the Bali outcome, Sharma said, "We can no longer allow the interests of our farmers to be compromised at the altar of mercantilist ambitions of the rich. The Bali ministerial meeting is an opportunity for developing countries to stay united in resolve to demonstrate the centrality of agriculture in trade talks".

The G-33 meeting, chaired by the Indonesia's trade minister Gita Wirjawan, was attended by all its 47 member countries. In a press briefing after the G-33 meeting, Wirjawan urged WTO member countries to accept the G-33 proposal on food security. "This proposal is important considering the volatility of world's food prices, which is continuously increasing," she said.

G. Manicandan, on behalf of activisit group Our World is Not for Sale Network, representing Indian civil society organisations, farmers' groups and trade unions, urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not give up the long-term interest of the nation for short-term promises.

"We urge you to stand firm and reject a peace clause that does not guarantee a permanent solution to the issue of price support to poor farmers in the country's sovereign endeavour for securing food for all," he said in a statement.

Later, addressing a Group of Twenty (G-20) meeting in Bali, Sharma asked for the removal of disparity in agricultural trade rules as these are biased in favour of developed countries. Referring to the two issues in G-20's agriculture proposals-export competition and tariff rate quotas (TRQs)-Sharma said only lip service was being paid to eliminating export subsidies as mandated in the Hong Kong ministerial declaration of 2005, without any substance and lacking binding commitment. "Similarly, on TRQs, there are no specific deliverables on issues of concern to developing countries," he said.