WTO: India pushes for permanent solution on public stockholding

NAIROBI: On the eve of the WTO ministerial meet, India pitched for "concerted efforts" for a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding of grains for food security programmes and a balanced outcome of the 4-day meeting.

"Consistent with the 2014 General Council Decision on the public stockholding for food security purposes, we expect members to engage constructively and make all concerted efforts to arrive at a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security purposes at this ministerial," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

She regretted that for decades, "a handful of farm lobbies of some countries" have been shaping the discourse at WTO, which has bearings on lives of millions of farmers in developing nations.

The minister was addressing a meeting of G-33, a grouping of developing nations which collectively represents voice of over two-thirds of humanity, a majority of which are poor and subsistence farmers.

During the ministerial beginning tomorrow, India wants the multi-lateral body to deliberate on pending issues of the Doha round and deliverables of the Bali package, including issues of the least developed countries.

At G-33, Sitharaman stressed that the grouping must be able to collectively send out a message that any outcome in Nairobi must be balanced and cover all elements of the Doha Development Agenda ( DDA).

"We cannot continue with the rhetoric of a development agenda without even a reasonable attempt to address issues which are of primary concern to developing economies. For decades, a handful of farm lobbies of some countries have shaped the discourse and determined the destiny of millions of subsistence farmers of the developing countries.

"The reduction in the massive subsidisation of the farm sector in developed countries, which was the clear-cut mandate of DDA, is now not even a subject matter of discussion today, leave aside serious negotiations," Sitharaman said.