India will pitch for a trade incentives package for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the on-going Bali Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“New Delhi will push for a package for the LDCs even if its concerns on food security do not get immediately recognised or addressed by the rich nations. We will not hold LDCs hostage to the failure by other countries on arriving at a deal on rest of the issues,” a Commerce Department official told Business Line .
LDC countries had been promised a number of allowances by other members of the WTO, some dating back to the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting in 2005, to make trade smoother for them.
This includes a duty-free-quota-free scheme (DFQF) that would allow imports of LDC products into markets of bigger and richer countries at zero duty and without quotas.
Interestingly, while India has already implemented the DFQF scheme and recently increased its coverage to 96.2 per cent of imported products from LDCs, the US’s coverage of products is still below 85 per cent.
“We have always supported the cause of least developed countries. Many of the LDCs in South Asia are also part of the WTO who already get preferential treatment from us. We will stand by them and other LDCs at the multilateral forum as well,” the official said.
The LDCs also want preferential rules of origin for products exported by them. As rules of origin lay down the minimum value addition required for a product to qualify as originating from a specific country, preferential rules will make the criteria less stringent for them.
Cotton subsidies Another issue on top of the agenda for cotton producing African countries is a commitment on elimination of cotton subsidies, especially from the US. WTO members had agreed in the Hong Kong Ministerial in 2005 to eliminate cotton subsidies by 2006, but no movement has happened in the area because of the US’ reluctance.
A services waiver promised to LDCs in the last Ministerial Meeting in Geneva in 2011 that would allow its service providers preferential access to other markets also needs to be operationalised.
amiti.sen@thehindu.co.in