June 22, 2007
G4 No More, India Assails US, EU
for Trade Talks Collapse
New Delhi
The failure of rich nations to accept effective cuts in farm
subsidies and yet ask for greater market access for their
agriculture produce in the developing world resulted in the recent
breakdown of global trade talks in Germany, Commerce Minister Kamal
Nath said Friday.
"It is the end of the road for G4," Kamal Nath said in an
unambiguous tone after attending a meeting with trade ministers of
the United States, Brazil and European Union at Potsdam in Germany
June 19-21.
"The G4 is no more," he added.
"Agreeing to their demands would have been against the mandate of
Doha Round, seriously jeopardised the livelihoods of the farmers of
the developing and least developed countries and threatened the food
security of many poorer nations."
Kamal Nath, in fact, walked away from the meeting, which was
supposed have ended Friday, since it was nowhere near reaching a
consensus. The minister also called World Trade Organization (WTO)
Director General Pascal Lamy Friday noon.
This was the second meeting of the G4 trade ministers after India
hosted them in New Delhi April 2007 when they had charted out a
roadmap for meetings to engage intensively on all important issues
relating to the Doha trade talks.
On the issue of industrial tariffs, the rich countries had wanted a
formula that would have allowed them to take average cuts of just
above 30 percent but made the developing countries reduce theirs by
over 60 percent, Kamal Nath said.
"This could only have helped the developed countries to make heavy
inroads into the markets of developing countries while offering
negligible reciprocal gains to the latter," he said.
"This was totally unacceptable to the developing countries, as it
would have led to increasing unemployment among their workforce," he
said, adding: "They [developed countries] were talking of
prosperity, while I'm protecting the livelihood of millions."
Rich countries also expressed reluctance in reforming the trade
defence measures like anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which
have often been used unfairly against developing countries to curb
their export growth, he said.
"I caution the US and the EU not to create a divide among developing
countries."
Kamal Nath said the current negotiations were termed the Doha
Development Round and had raised the expectations of the developing
world that it would help them tackle their problems of unemployment
and poverty.
The Doha Development Round of talks, which began in Doha in 2001
with the aim of giving developing countries a greater stake in
global trade, was supposed to have concluded in 2004 but has been
marred by increasing intransigence on the part of rich nations -
particularly over cutting their mammoth farm subsidies.
"The current aspirations of many developed countries were totally
oblivious to the development content of the Doha Round and were
instead focused mainly on seeking greater market access for their
own products," Nath said.
Nevertheless, the minister said that India, which has been a firm
believer in a rules-based multilateral system of trade, would work
with other like-minded countries to ensure a successful conclusion
of the Doha Round.
"The chances of concluding these talks are good, provided the
developed countries recognise the architecture and recognise that
trade distortions cannot be there and also understand that every
trade agreement must lead to healthy economy."
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
