Singh: Clearing the air

New Delhi, Oct. 18: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set out the broad parameters for India’s strategy at the WTO talks on the eve of a meeting of the US, the EU, India, Brazil and Australia.

He has also considered the response paper of the Left parties, seeking a tough stance at the WTO negotiations.

The Prime Minister has asked commerce minister Kamal Nath to take Left concerns into account while negotiating at the WTO conclave.

“The Prime Minister gave the broad parameters for negotiations. I briefed him on the state of play and the US proposal on subsidy cuts for farm products,” Nath said after the group of ministers meeting. The commerce minister will head the Indian delegation at the meetings in Geneva aimed at breaking the deadlock in the multilateral trade talks.

The meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, was also attended by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and minister of state in Prime Minister's office ? Prithviraj Chavan.

Nath said Indian markets would not be opened for subsidised imports from developed countries. “We are looking at trade flows and not subsidy flows,” he added.

The Left leadership has demanded a white paper on the strategy that the country will adopt during WTO negotiations. The Left parties have stated that India should stick to south-south co-operation rather than going in for issue-based coalitions with the EU or the US.

Despite Nath's assurances, the Left parties have stated that they are opposed to the “non-linear Swiss-type formula”, which should be reconsidered. They fear that this will force India to bind its unbound tariff lines without any corresponding concessions from developed countries.

Coming out with an eight-point strategy to protect the interests of farmers, the Left parties said India and other developing countries should insist on the right to use quantitative restrictions to save poor farmers from cheap imports.

However, the road to Hong Kong appears to be a rocky one as foreign ministers of the European nations met in Luxembourg today to discuss the EU's latest offer to cut farm subsidies.