India says rich nations trying to violate Doha mandate

From D Ravi Kanth
Paris, May 25 (PTI) India Wednesday said the developed
countries are trying to shift goal posts in WTO negotiations,
lamenting that these attempts violate the Doha mandate that
calls for an equitable global trade deal.
"India views such an attempt to shift goal posts as
unacceptable and as a violation of the mandate," Commerce and
Industry Minister Anand Sharma said, ahead of the WTO informal
ministerial meeting here on the sidelines of the OECD meet.
While the informal meeting, being hosted by Australia
would be "a good opportunity to discuss what lies ahead in
Doha", the complex agenda of the Doha Round involving 154
members "cannot be rushed", he said.
In the face of unbridgeable differences among the
developed and the developing countries, Australia is eager to
secure consensus over a small menu of issues through Plan B,
scaling down the ambitions of the Round, sources said.
Australia wants that difficult issues relating
to market access - agriculture, industrial goods, and services
must be taken up next year.
Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson had a meeting
with Sharma.
But India, South Africa and Brazil want that members must
strive to realise the much-promised developmental gains, said
an Indian official.
In a statement, Sharma said developed countries are
seeking to put more demands on the developing nations for
market opening. It said progress already made must be
protected.
Sharma said after taking aggressive cuts in tariff rates
under the Swiss Formula, it would be difficult for emerging
economies to accept "top-ups" which are sought to be made
mandatory.
"Developed countries must appreciate our sensitivities,
our autonomous liberalisation, the development dimension and
the impact on our local industries" in case the developing
countries commit to slash import duties, he said.
The developed world is seeking a multilateral agreement
on drastic cuts or elimination of duties in specific areas
through the so called 'sectoral' negotiations.
In all, there are 14 products which are under various
stages of discussion with respect to the proposal but three
sectors are very aggressively being pursued by the US and EU.
These are chemicals, electronics and electrical equipment
and industrial machinery.
India and other developing countries insist that such a
duty elimination should be voluntary and not mandatory.
Sharma expressed concern "at the attempt to shift the
discourse from development to purely mercantilist issues, most
of them having scant relevance for developing countries".