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On Day One of the Ninth Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India tried to build a broad consensus among developing countries, which are “dissatisfied” with the Bali Package currently on the table.
Brazil and South Africa have conveyed their agreement with India’s position that the proposed Bali Package addresses only the concerns of rich countries, according to an official release.
“Nobody is feeling ‘I have got something’ as far as the developing world is concerned and their views need articulation,” a highly placed source told Business Line . “If this (Doha) was the Development Round, then how come food security is not the biggest thing in it?”
According to unconfirmed reports, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma may meet on Wednesday with US Trade Representative Michael Froman, who in his keynote address in October at the WTO Public Forum had said: “The loss of the WTO as a negotiating forum would have the greatest impact on the smallest countries … Big countries will always have options.”
On Monday, India was blamed for the stalemate at the Bali conference.
Host Indonesia and WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo are trying not to let the Bali Ministerial and, with it, the Doha Round, fail.
India has rejected two proposals in the Package: inadequate safeguards for farm subsidies for food security and the US proposal on trade facilitation.
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