World Trade Organisation to discuss India-US agreement on Wednesday

NEW DELHI: The WTO General Council will meet on Wednesday to approve the agreement reached between India and US to break the deadlock.

Importantly, the General Council will approve that the entire Bali package including trade facilitation and public stocking for food security be pursued simultaneously.

India had in July this year stalled the Trade Facilitation agreement demanding simultaneous work on issues of importance to the developing countries, namely public procurement for food security reasons.

It is now proposed that negotiations will begin on food security issue immediately and a permanent solution will be found in just over a year, by December 31, 2015. If no solution is found the peace clause will continue till the time a solution is found.

India has been demanding both these measures before it could sign the trade facilitation agreement.

The members will take up the protocol of amendment for trade facilitation and on public stock holding for food security purposes simultaneously. The work programme for these are proposed to be completed by July 31, 2014.

The general council will adopt the trade facilitation protocol for acceptance, which India is likely to approve this time as its concerns on food security have been met.

The general council will simultaneously adopt draft decision on public stockholding for food security purposes.

This decision says : “Until a permanent solution is agreed and adopted, and provided that the conditions set out in... members shall not challenge through the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism, compliance of a developing member and its obligations... in relation to support provided for traditional staple food crops in pursuance of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes existing as of the date of the Bali decision...”

If a permanent solution is not found till 11 th ministerial, to be held in 2017, this safeguard will continue till such a solution is found and adopted.

The agreement also says that food security issue will be pursued in priority.

Committee on agriculture will hold discussion on the issue and try and find a solution by 31 December 2015.

The breakthrough came after Prime minister Narendra Modi met US President Barack Obama in Washington in September.