India has said that its stand in the ongoing trade talks at the World Trade Organization remains unchanged and that it sees no problem in continuing discussions beyond the July 31 deadline for the finalisation of a trade facilitation pact.
“Our stand at the WTO remains the same,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after her meeting with US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker on Thursday.
India had earlier proposed that a permanent solution, which would give it adequate protection against action by WTO members in case of a breach of the farm subsidy cap, be put in place by December 31.
“We have suggested a way of action. The Bali deal will not collapse if there is no agreement by July 31,” Kher said. He, however, did not elaborate on the fresh proposal.
Discussions are still on in Geneva to reach a consensus on the issue.
While Pritzker and Sitharaman did not discuss WTO issues in their commercial dialogue, the current stalemate on the proposed trade facilitation pact in Geneva was discussed at length by the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in their bilateral talks held here.
New Delhi created a flutter at the WTO earlier this month by refusing to give its support to a trade facilitation pact — an agreement to upgrade customs infrastructure and procedures — pushed by many developed members, including the European Union and the US, till its concerns on food security are met.
While all WTO members agreed in a meeting in Bali in December to ratify a trade facilitation pact by July 31, India has said that it will support the pact only when it is given a permanent solution for its food procurement subsidies, in case they breach the existing cap of 10 per cent of agricultural production.