Cautious optimism at WTO meet

Cautious optimism prevailed hours before the sixth WTO Ministerial as trade ministers from 149 member countries attempt to give a big push to reaching even a watered-down deal at the meeting, which India said must address food and livelihood concerns of developing countries.

With continuing differences between developed and developing nations on the contentious issue of agriculture, the trade ministers are trying to sew up a package for least developed countries and readying an agreement which could be an improved version of the July framework and not finalise modalities, a litmus test for the organisation after the Cancun meeting.

Addressing leading global civil society organisations, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday asserted that India wanted Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanisms in agriculture in the development package, which is being worked out for the poor countries.

Special Products are those farm products on which there would be no tariff reduction and SSM is a mechanism to prevent any flood of imported farm products in a country.

While emphasising that India stood by the LDCs, he said any outcome of the Ministerial must be balanced and should take concerns of poor farmers and small and tiny industries in developing countries on board.

The meeting was attended by leading NGOs Greenpeace, Oxfam, Quakers, CUTS and several other farmers' organisations who asked India not to give in to pressure from developed countries and compromise on concerns of developing countries.

Assuring them, Nath said India was keen to see that the conference comes out with a negotiating mandate on convention of biodiversity to protect traditional knowledge and a tariff reduction formula in industrial goods which is firmly based on the "less than full reciprocity" principle for developing countries.

In services, he said India was satisfied with the draft WTO text and would like binding commitments from the developed world on Mode 1(outsourcing) and Mode 4, for its professionals.

Despite the current deadlock, the US was hopeful that the ministerial meeting would act as the building block for the final deal even as the country's Congress said the President George W Bush did not have the mandate to negotiate on services, an area of interest for developing countries like India.

US Trade Representative Rob Portman has emphasised making incremental progress at the meeting and expanding trade in agriculture, manufacturing and services.

EU, which on the other hand is under pressure from the US, India and Brazil, to cut its farms subsidies and offer market access, said it would not improve its offer but expressed hope that the Ministerial meeting would be able to deliver a package for poor countries.

WTO Director Pascal Lammy has already played down expectations from the Ministerial saying "that the meeting is never intended as the finale of the Doha Development Agenda of global trade negotiations. It is intended to be an important stop along the road to completing the round at the end of 2006, and so it remains".