Include services and manufacturing sectors in WTO talks

New Delhi, May 20: BJP General Secretary and former Union Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley today said India should insist that Western countries include the manufacturing and services sectors, in which it had an edge, in WTO negotiations instead of discussing the agricultural sector.

Addressing the National Executive of the BJP Kisan Morcha here on the WTO and Agricutural Sector, Mr Jaitley said the West was going slow on negotiations on the services sector as India, with its huge technical manpower resources, was able to provide cheap but quality services in diverse spheres lke Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, pharmaceuticals and even open up its health services because of its cost advantage to patients.

Having realised that India was a beneficiary of globalisation in the sevices sector, the West was maintaining that agricultural issues be expedited before discussing the issues concerning the services and manufacturing sectors. India should demand a discussion on these issues as it was still on the ''defensive'' in agricultural matters.

The BJP will urge the Government to reopen the issue and start discussions on the services and the manufacturing sector, he said.

Mr Jaitley, who headed India's negotiations at the Cancun Ministerial round of talks during the NDA regime, said like India had benefited in the services sector, China had gained because of its advantage of possessing cheap labour. Indian economy had grown stronger in recent years and was placed evenly in the manufacturing sector also.

He said the developed countries, basically the United States and European Union, wanted market access in countries like India which had a large population for selling their surplus agricultural production numbering about 692 items. They wanted the government to reduce customs duty so that they could compete with domestic producers in India. ''We have to remain alert against these designs to save the interests of the farmers,'' he added.

He said the rich western economies subsidised farming operations by pumping in 400 billion dollars right from supply of power, fertilisers, seeds, labour whereas India's total subsidies in all forms did not exceed two per cent of agricultural production because of its economy's inability to provide 10 per cent subsidies allowed under the WTO.

About the phamaceutical scenario, Mr Jaitley said Research and Development drugs and phamaceuticals were by far the cheapest in the world because of availability of knowledge manpower and India was in a position to get numerous medicines patented in the next five to six years. However, cancer drugs would be costly because US companies held the patent but there was provision in the Treaty that allowed the companies to manufacture certain patented drugs, he said.

UNI