India warns developed countries against selectively opening up services sector

New Delhi: India has warned developed countries against attempts to selectively open up certain services sectors and negotiate a 'closed club' agreement as it could undermine the World Trade Organisation.

"This would not only upset the delicate balance of the Doha Round but would also undermine the World Trade Organisation," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said in his address at the G-20 trade ministers meet in Mexico.

The United States and the European Union, joined by some others, have floated the idea of a "plurilateral pact" on trade in services as the Doha round of the WTO is in a limbo.

Plurilateral agreements within the framework of a multilateral agreement are inherently discriminatory as the benefits of this Agreement will not be 'MFNised' or given to other WTO member countries but will be restricted to the participating countries only, Sharma argued.

"A selective approach that cherry picks a few items, from even within a specific area for expedited decisions is bound to not only upset the balance but may also result in jeopardising the entire negotiating process," the minister said, adding that at the WTO every outcome of the negotiations, be it on agriculture, industrial goods, trade facilitation or services, represents a thoroughly negotiated trade-off.

The current proposals that relate to services do not seem to address the core issues that concern the movement of natural persons. Their mobility is severely restricted due to visas, entry procedures, and lack of mutual recognition of qualifications among other impediments, Sharma said.

Countries need to remain faithful to the mandate of the Doha round and the development agenda and strive to create a level playing ground before all are called to compete as equals, the minister said. "Only then, I believe, will emerge a new narrative on trade - that would position trade as a function of economic growth and not the other way round," Sharma said.

The Doha round of the WTO, that seeks to open up global markets in goods and services, is stuck over the US' insistence that large developing countries like India, China and Brazil give greater market access than what the round's mandate calls for.