India will oppose the developed countries' attempt for harmonisation of tariffs between them and emerging economies at the informal Trade Ministers' Meeting on Doha Round of talks on an international trade agreement.
India, which will be represented by its Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma at the meeting, is likely to push for protecting the gains already achieved in Doha round, and the country is determined that negotiations must continue to build on the progress already made.
India also made it clear that attempts to re-open issues on which a lot of progress has been made would be counterproductive.
With such a complex agenda to be negotiated amongst 154 members, the Doha Round cannot be rushed through. Much time and effort have gone into it over the last 10 years and the results must not be lost, Indian officials said yesterday.
Ahead of his visit to Paris for the meeting, Sharma said: “This is a good opportunity to discuss on what lies ahead in Doha, after the WTO director general and the negotiating chairs brought out the comprehensive reports of April 21. The reports map the progress made so far while pointing to the wide gaps that remain unresolved across all WTO issues.”
India made it clear that reports by the WTO official and negotiating chairs are by no means revised negotiating texts and that are not meant to change the basis for future negotiations.
India views as unacceptable and shifting of goal posts developed countries' efforts to rebalance the perceived “disparity” in the contribution between developed and emerging countries and to achieve, if not equalisation, a harmonisation of their tariffs.
Sectoral Initiatives were always intended to be a non-mandatory top-up to industrial goods access liberalisation. After the aggressive cuts by developing countries through the Swiss formula, it would be difficult to accept a mandatory top-up. “Developed countries must appreciate our sensitivities, our autonomous liberalisation, the development dimension and the impact on our local industries,” Sharma added.
Sharma expressed concern over attempts to shift the discourse from development to purely mercantilist issues, most of them having scant relevance for developing countries.
“The Doha Development Agenda is one of the most ambitious attempts at ensuring that the issue of development is firmly at the core of the multilateral trading system. The critical interests to be served are those of protecting the food and livelihood security of farmers and vulnerable industries of the developing countries.”
At the recent India-Africa Trade Ministers' Meeting in Addis Ababa also, the trade ministers emphasised the development mandate of Doha Round of negotiations and called for speedy conclusion of the round and the establishment of a strong multilateral system based on mutually beneficial and balanced outcomes in agriculture.