Indian trade officials said Wednesday that the country won't signoff on a stalled global trade pact unless a permanent solution on expanding countries' rights to stockpile food is found quickly.
"We shall not wait for an interminable period to get an agreement on what we think is important for India," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. But India isn't opposed in principle to the trade facilitation deal, she added.
The World Trade Organization's 160 member governments failed to ratify a deal to harmonize customs procedures in July because India demanded faster progress on exempting food stockpiles, including its own, from WTO limits on agricultural procurement and subsidies.
Like some other developing countries, India subsidizes farmers by purchasing their harvests at guaranteed, above-market prices. The wheat and rice procured this way is used to maintain government reserves and is sold at subsidized prices to the poor.
WTO members approved the customs reforms unanimously in December in Bali, Indonesia. Concurrently, they agreed to find a "permanent solution" on grain stockpiling within four years, and to shield food-security programs like India's from official disputes in the interim.
But in July India expressed frustration that the WTO and other member countries didn't appear to be as committed as India to finding a lasting solution to the impasse. India's decision to withhold its support for the customs reforms is one with which many other developing nations now sympathize, even if they didn't in July, Ms. Sitharaman said Wednesday.
"These are issues of the sovereign right of a country," she said. "We would like the WTO to address them."A WTO meeting to discuss the trade-facilitation agreement is scheduled for Sept. 29 in Geneva.Source: http://online.wsj.com/
"We shall not wait for an interminable period to get an agreement on what we think is important for India," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. But India isn't opposed in principle to the trade facilitation deal, she added.
The World Trade Organization's 160 member governments failed to ratify a deal to harmonize customs procedures in July because India demanded faster progress on exempting food stockpiles, including its own, from WTO limits on agricultural procurement and subsidies.
Like some other developing countries, India subsidizes farmers by purchasing their harvests at guaranteed, above-market prices. The wheat and rice procured this way is used to maintain government reserves and is sold at subsidized prices to the poor.
WTO members approved the customs reforms unanimously in December in Bali, Indonesia. Concurrently, they agreed to find a "permanent solution" on grain stockpiling within four years, and to shield food-security programs like India's from official disputes in the interim.
But in July India expressed frustration that the WTO and other member countries didn't appear to be as committed as India to finding a lasting solution to the impasse. India's decision to withhold its support for the customs reforms is one with which many other developing nations now sympathize, even if they didn't in July, Ms. Sitharaman said Wednesday.
"These are issues of the sovereign right of a country," she said. "We would like the WTO to address them."A WTO meeting to discuss the trade-facilitation agreement is scheduled for Sept. 29 in Geneva.Source: http://online.wsj.com/
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