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Maran allays fears about Doha decisions

BS Economy Bureau

Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran on Wednesday sought to allay fears about the decisions taken at the Doha ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation and said the country has earned "enough time to reflect and effectively negotiate" on the new round of trade talks slated to be completed only by 2005.

Maran's comment came in a statement in the Parliament on Wednesday regarding the fourth commerce ministers' meeting, which ended on November 14.

He said the outcome of the conference was in conformity with the interests of India's agricultural and the industrial sectors and consequently the development prospects of the country.

He said: "The Doha mandate will not in any way harm us; on the contrary, we have substantial gains".

"We have made major strides towards realising our goals and the ministerial declaration contains significant achievements for India," Maran said.

He said that the Doha declaration proposing negotiations on three environment related issues has not widened the environmental "window in trade" as India is already a signatory to most multilateral environment agreements.

Listing out the areas of gains, the minister said that some implementation concerns, an area of high priority for India, have been addressed while the remaining have either been referred for negotiations or to subsidiary bodies of WTO for further examination.

Therefore, they are an integral part of the work programme drawn up by the multilateral trade body.

He also said that the declaration reaffirms India's opposition to the linking of core labour standards with trade by saying that the International Labour Organisation is the appropriate forum to address the issue.

On agriculture, Maran said, India's concerns have been adequately safeguarded and member countries have committed themselves to negotiations to provide substantial improvement in market access, reduce trade distorting measures and phase out export subsidies.

"On the four Singapore issues -- investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation - the study process will continue till the fifth ministerial and a decision regarding any negotiation would be based on explicit consensus," the minister said.

He also listed out the gains made through a separate declaration on TRIPs (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) and public health and the key role India had played in getting it adopted.

"It recognises the affordability and availability of medicines as an universal right," the minister added.

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