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WTO ministers back new trade round

K R Sudhaman in Doha

After days of hard bargaining, WTO Ministers on Wednesday arrived at a consensus to launch a new 'development' round of negotiations aimed at lowering trade barriers after India's concerns on several issues including market access, agriculture, linking of trade to environment and labour standards were incorporated.

After almost blocking the agreement on the contentious Singapore issues, India agreed for a consensus on the declaration by the 142-member body following a clarification by Conference chairman that negotiations on these issues would be held only after an 'explicit consensus' was reached at the fifth ministerial conference two years from now.

The clarification from the Chairman, Qatar Finance Minister Yousuf Kamal, came by way of a separate statement which was attached to the ministerial declaration to accommodate India.

"We are happy because the interests and concerns of developing countries have been addressed. The fear of non- trade issues being brought into the work programme of WTO has now been put to rest," Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran told reporters after the meet.

India's broad concerns on TRIPS, trade and transfer of technology and WTO rules have also been addressed, Maran said.

The ministerial declaration gives greater attention on the development dimension of agriculture with an additional flexibility on providing domestic support and protection from imports on grounds of food security, livelihood concerns and rural development.

In his statement, the Conference Chairman said a decision to launch negotiations on investment, competition and two other Singapore issues would indeed need an 'explicit consensus' before negotiations.

"In my view, this would also give each member the right to take a position on modalities that would prevent negotiations from proceeding after the fifth session of the ministerial until that member is prepared to join in an explicit consensus," it said.

A commitment to phase out of export subsidies by the developed countries has also been secured in the declaration. This would facilitate Indian farmers in accessing global markets by making the country's agriculture globally competitive.

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