US yield spells better harvest
The US seems to have slightly softened its position on the issue of according protection to farm products from the developing world, including India, in the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.
By Amiti Sen, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The US seems to have slightly softened its position on the issue of according protection to farm products from the developing world, including India, in the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. Earlier, the country had proposed that the number of special products (SP) that the developing countries can shield from tariff cuts should be restricted to five, but it is not talking of such limiting numbers any more.
In a meeting of the WTO committee on agriculture (CoA) that followed the G-6 meeting of trade ministers in New Delhi on April 12, the US said SPs should be restricted to ‘appropriate numbers’. It, however, continued to maintain that the indicators for special products proposed by the G-33 group of countries (that includes India) were still far too sweeping to allow genuine increase in market access.
While only the US, the EU and Japan spoke about the year-end deadline to conclude the Doha round, sources said there was an increased sense of urgency to resolve issues fast and CoA chairman Crawford Falconer planned to circulate a draft paper next week on possible modalities. Member responses to the paper would be used to revise the draft modalities circulated last year. Last year’s draft was criticised by many for being sketchy.
In the CoA meeting, the G-33 countries — who are spearheading the campaign for developing countries’ right to designating as many SPs as required to protect their livelihood and food security — pointed out that they had shown flexibility by bringing down the list of indicators for SPs and the other countries should respond.
Some countries including the US, Thailand and Australia said the G-33’s indicators were still far too sweeping to allow genuine improvements in market access, even for south-south trade. Thailand called for additional indicators to reflect the food and livelihood security and rural development needs of farmers who produce for export and repeated its call for substantial improvements in market access for all farm goods, including SPs.
ADVERTISEMENT
The US indicated it was looking to restrict the number of SPs to appropriate numbers agreed in the Hong Kong Declaration, 2005. It also called for increases in ‘trade flows’, a phrase Cuba said had never been agreed to. It is also to be decided whether the SPs will be totally excluded from tariff cuts agreed to in the negotiations or be subjected to less than formula cuts.Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
