New Delhi, May 16, 2008 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- -- India today said the multilateral negotiations on Doha Round are poised at a delicate stage and their conclusion will depend on the beneficiaries of the previous WTO agreements willing to make contributions for a new trade deal.

"Major trading nations such as the US and the EU have to display leadership and not lay the onus for the Round's success only on developing members," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in a statement here, days before release of the fresh negotiating texts for agriculture and industrial goods.

He said the Doha Round negotiations are "delicately poised". The future course would depend on "whether the member countries that have hitherto largely enjoyed the gains of trade liberalisation are willing to make their legitimate contributions to fulfill the core objective of the Round, which has been termed a Development Round." He said in the absence of developed countries willing to contribute, the negotiations may move into the eighth year from its start.

Nath said if the Round fails to deliver on its development promise and gets converted into yet another market access for the wealthier nations, efforts by India and many other developing countries to conclude it within the next few months, "will not have much chance of success." Focusing on agriculture, which lies at the core of the Doha Round, Nath said that it was vital for India to first secure the livelihoods of its poor and vulnerable farmers before it could move on to any other issue.

Towards this end, it was imperative to settle the issue of Special Products (on which there would be no duty cut by the developing countries) and the Special Safeguard Mechanism well before the final run up to the modalities on Agriculture and Non Agriculture Market Access(NAMA). "This subject which is just not tradeable for India," he said. Drawing attention to the protracted efforts being made by a group of six members to provide comfort to the developed importing countries on Sensitive Products, the Minister said, "While flexibilities and carve outs are sought to be obtained on Sensitive Products for some countries, on Special Products (SPs), we are seeing an attempt to derail the issue by bringing in a new concept of transparency." The US and the Cairns Group are now demanding that all developing countries availing of SPs must reveal their list of SPs even before any modality on SPs has been agreed upon, whereas the developed importing countries have flatly refused to divulge their list of Sensitive Products before the stage of scheduling.

"G-33 (of which India is a leading member) position is crystal clear SPs will be driven by indicators which, in turn, are anchored in three criteria of livelihood security, rural development and food security," Nath said.

The very fact that criteria and indicators drive selection of SPs is a validation of transparency. This is in striking contrast to the selection of Sensitive Products, which developed countries were at liberty to simply pick and choose.

"This new issue of transparency in SPs amounts to re-negotiation of vital parts of the mandate and this is not acceptable to developing countries," he said adding there was a "blatant attempt at shifting the goal posts".

Moving on to the subject of the Rules negotiations, the Minister stated that the current draft text has been severely criticised by a large number of members for the proposals on Anti-Dumping and Fisheries Subsidies. "The proposals in the Fisheries Subsidies text posed a threat to the livelihoods of millions of India's small and marginal fisherfolk and needed to be modified immediately," Nath said.

India along with China and Indonesia had recently tabled a joint proposal on Fisheries Subsidies and this must get the most serious consideration, he said.

On Anti-Dumping, Nath stated that there was an obvious attempt to provide comfort to one country through the text. However, the recent findings of the Appellate Body in the zeroing case, had made the attempt, totally untenable. While the minister did not name the country, it was the US which was sought to be helped.

Nath said without a revised text covering both Fisheries Subsidies and Anti-Dumping, India and many other developing countries could not agree to finalising the Agriculture and NAMA modalities.

Dwelling on the importance of Services, he said market access in outsourcing with disciplines in domestic regulations was essential for India and a number of developing countries. Discussions and negotiations thus far have tended to focus primarily on services like retail and banking and on select sectors of interest chiefly to the developed countries.

Friday, May 16, 2008; Posted: 10:54 PM

Source: www.tradingmarkets.com