Pressure on India to compromise will halt WTO talks;warns Kamal Nath

New Delhi, Mar 8 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today warned that the entire process of the ongoing WTO negotiations would come to a grinding halt if the US and the EU insisted on India compromising on its stand of 'less-than-full-reciprocity' in the crucial area of industrial products, known as the Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA).

''If the developed countries like the US and the EU were to even suggest compromise on the part of India on 'less-than-full-reciprocity' in NAMA, it would bring to halt all the WTO negotiations'', Mr Kamal Nath said on the eve of his departure for London where the G-6 (Group of Six) meeting would start from March 10.

The Commerce and Industry Minister said the US and the EU want to first decide the cut in industrial tariff and ''then fit a formula into it''. This, he said, would not be acceptable to India. He said whatever cut was offered by the developed countries, India would reduce it by two-third.

''We will protect our small and medium enterprises and ensure that the process of industrialisation is continued''.

The Minister also stuck to India's stand of not giving market access in agriculture to the global trade without taking into consideration the issue of livelihood and food security.

Mr Kamal Nath will attend the meeting of the trade ministers of G-6 countries - the European Union (EU), USA, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan, to discuss the Doha Development Agenda and issues in the context of the Hong Kong Declaration adopted at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to carry forward the process of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.

India and Brazil represent the G-20 grouping in the G-6. Mr Kamal Nath will articulate the interests and concerns of developing countries at the meeting in the key areas of the ongoing negotiations such as agriculture and NAMA.

The issues discussed at the Hong Kong Ministerial related to the reduction of domestic support, elimination of export subsidies, sensitive products, special products and special safeguard mechanism in agriculture; elimination of export subsidies and accelerated reduction in domestic support in cotton; non-agricultural market access; services; development package for least developed countries and other development issues under the Doha Work Programme.

The G-6 meeting aims to have an exchange of views on various issues on the agenda in order to narrow down the differences between the developed country and developing country perspectives as far as possible in order to facilitate discussions in the larger body of the WTO membership so as to meet the various deadlines for finalisation of modalities for further negotiations, as mandated by the Hong Kong Declaration.

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