India should not accept Geneva WTO draft, says ASSOCHAM

New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) The draft text of the Mini Ministerial Meeting of the WTO scheduled for June 29, 2006 in Geneva must be rejected since it seeks to enjoin upon the developing countries responsibility of reducing industrial tariff at an unacceptably steep rate, ASSOCHAM said today.

''India should not be happy about the draft text on Non-agricultural Market Access Negotiations) NAMA because this text seems to prefer a simple swiss formula for tariff reduction in industrial goods. This would mean that the developing countries will be obliged to go in for steeper tariff cuts than the developed countries'', Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) President Anil K Agarwal said in a statement here.

(The ASSOCHAM desires the timely conclusion of the Doha Round of negotiations) as any collapse of this round would go against the interest of the developing countries more than the developed countries. However, India cannot compromise on its interest in agriculture and industry, Mr Agarwal said.

He said the attempts to link flexibilities given in para 8 of the Doha mandate with the formula for tariff reduction should not be acceptable to India. ''We would like to retain the para 8 flexibility so that we can protect our vulnerable section of the industry like SSI'', he said.

The tariff reduction formula should be such that developing countries are not unduly punished for their level of tariff. This is because the developing and the developed countries are at two different levels of industrial progress. By no stretch of imagination the level of industrialisation in developing and developed countries can be compared, the ASSOCHAM statement said.

The Indian negotiators should ward off attempts by a powerful lobby of the developed countries to pressurise India, Brazil and Egypt to make ''necessary compromises in NAMA'' it added.

''The question of tariff escalation and peaks should be addressed once and for all. While the developed countries seemingly maintain their industrial tariff at low level they resort to tariff peaks and escalations on products of interest to the developing countries. For example, cotton,'' ASSOCHAM opined.

''India should protect interest of millions of poor farmers by maintaining the leadership position in the G20 grouping. Attempts to create a divide within the G20 should be thwarted. The developing countries must maintain pressure for total elimination of export subsidies and considerable renewal of the domestic support to farmers in the rich world. At no point the interest of one pillar like industrial goods should be bargained for other pillar like agriculture,'' it pointed out.

''In area of services, India should maintain an offensive posture. The negotiators should ensure that movement of natural persons should be made free since many of the merging Indian sectors like BPOs and IT are confronted with short term visa problems in the developed countries,'' ASSOCHAM pointed out.

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