India has blamed rich countries, led by the US, for stonewalling efforts to arrive at a Bali package for the Ninth World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference.
Rich countries are following double standards on the issue of subsidies for farmers, India has said.
Leading a 30-member Indian delegation to Bali for the Ministerial conference, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said here on Monday in his address to the G33 that “It is ironic that let alone trying to address this crucial issue, developed countries demonstrated little appetite even to discuss it.”
The G33 is seeking safeguards for subsidies poor countries give to their farmers for food security purposes in excess of the limits set by the WTO.
“It is unfortunate that even though the G33 has shown flexibility by agreeing to discuss an interim solution, there were efforts to make the solution redundant through elaborate procedural formalities in the name of safeguards against trade distortion and transparency,” Sharma said.
The three-day Ministerial starts on Tuesday. The rich countries are pressing the G33 countries to agree to their preferred treaty for trade facilitation. “It’s a question of who blinks first,” said highly placed sources.
“We can no longer allow the interests of over two-thirds of humanity and an overwhelming majority of the poor and subsistence farmers…..at the altar of mercantilist ambitions,” Sharma said attacking the substantial subsidies extended by rich countries to their farmers and who do not face any restrictions.
“The massive subsidisation of the farm sector in the developed countries is not even a subject matter of discussion, leave aside serious negotiations.”
Negotiations are on, though without much progress, between the rich countries led by the US on the one hand and the India-led G33 on the other.
The negotiators haven’t so far settled on the texts for the three main issues – a new trade facilitation treaty, changes in agriculture rules relevant to food security and benefits for least developed countries. Sharma also addressed the G20 and held bilaterals with Indonesia, the convenor of the G33.
India has sought that the interim safeguards being proposed at Bali for subsidies which poor countries give to their farmers for food security purposes against the WTO’s disciplines should not expire before a permanent solution is found. The rich countries are against this proposal.
“When protracted negotiations have not yielded any consensus, how can we accept an artificial sunset in this case?” Sharma said.
Public stockholding for food security purposes is one of the items under the ‘Green Box’ of WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture. That means they are permissible, subject to certain conditions, as they are seen to be minimally or non-trade distorting. The contentious condition is that food purchases by the Government shall be made at current market prices.