CII calls for intensive negotiations to keep Doha Round alive

New Delhi, June 23 (UNI) Intensive negotiations at the ministerial level are needed to keep the Doha Development Round alive as the WTO modalities text released at Geneva shows lack of consensus, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said today.

Ministers at the mini-ministerial meeting, slated for next week at Geneva, will need to ensure that the final agreement does not dilute the flexibilities and the special and differential treatment available to developing countries, WTO and Other Trade Agreements Committee Chairman CII R V Kanoria said.

On Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) the text on modalities does not spell out the next steps for action and leaves the most important issues including the decision on the formula for tariff reduction to be decided in the forthcoming negotiations, Mr Kanoria said.

On most issues the text only states the various positions adopted by members, he added.

Mr Kanoria also said that while there is still no consensus on the formula for reduction in tariffs in the modalities text, the issue of sectoral negotiations has been incorporated in the text.

CII said that it does not support negotiations for tariff elimination or larger tariff cuts for specific industrial sectors and said that any discussion on sectoral negotiations, even on a non-mandatory basis, should follow a decision on the formula to be adopted.

The Chamber called for adopting a simple Swiss formula that would lead to the application of a very low tariff ceiling rate for most developing countries and would go against the development objective of the Round.

Mr Kanoria urged negotiators to ensure that developing countries like India are not asked to cut industrial goods tariffs by a larger percentage than developed country members.

The percentage of cuts by developing country members has to be lower than the percentage of cuts acceptable to developed country members.

CII said that developing countries should be asked to keep all sensitive products out of any tariff cuts and they should not be separated into two categories. They should also be allowed to keep some percentage of their tariff lines unbound, Mr Kanoria said.

At least 20 per cent of the agricultural tariff lines should be in the special products category for developing countries like India where there are several small and marginal farmers, CII added.

Mr Kanoria said that it is important for member countries to ensure that the development aspect of the Round is completely kept in mind during negotiations so that the Doha Round ends successfully.

UNI ARB PV KP1729