gopalakrishna

Upset over the delay in the conclusion of Doha round of trade talks, India, along with the G-33 alliance of developing countries, today came down heavily on the rich nations for not making "actual reductions" in the lavish farm subsidies.

"Fourteen years after the Uruguay round of talks was concluded, you (the developed countries) are still having subsidies in hundreds of billions of dollars. No actual reduction has taken place. So the unfinished business of the Uruguay round of actually reducing trade distorting subsidies has to be done in this round," Indian Commerce Secretary Gopal Pillai told PTI here.

Pillai is representing India at the WTO Ministerial Meet, which began today here, in the absence of Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, who is back home for a crucial trust vote in Parliament tomorrow.

"We are looking at a few million rich farmers in the developed countries as compared to hundreds of thousands in the developing countries where agriculture is the issue of livelihoods and food security, Pillai said.

"There is not much room for compromise in these matters because it is a livelihood concern and not for preserving the prosperity of rich farmers," he added.

"Even after the cuts are made in this round, most developing countries will have their tariffs below 200 per cent and the largest tariff will be in the developed countries, ranging from 200, 300 to 700 and 1700 per cent. So, this is what will happen even after the end of this round," Pillai said, stressing the urgency of sealing a deal at this round in the wake of rising food prices across the world.

If you (developed nations) don't finish the business of cutting subsidies in this round, when will you do it. At a time of very high food prices, this is the time for the developed countries for that lead and cut subsidies," Pillai said, adding that what the developing countries are asking for "is not something new". Singing a similar tone, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said, "agriculture is a matter of food security. We feel the current draft is still unbalanced. We don't want the round just for the sake of it but we want it for development and only development".

She added, "The developing countries are ready to open up but we call for flexibilities in the special safeguard mechanisms which need to be simple and operational for developing countries, particularly the scope of products, the trigger and the length of time for which it can be used." Previous safeguards mechanism make it very difficult for the developing countries to protect their farmers since by the time one figures out that the import surges are hurting the farmers, it's already too late. PTI

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