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Business News/ News / World/  WTO chief meets coordinators as attempts to resolve trade pact impasse fail
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WTO chief meets coordinators as attempts to resolve trade pact impasse fail

With less than 48 hours left to resolve the crisis, Roberto Azevdo met coordinators from 15 WTO groups on Tuesday

WTO director-general Roberto Azevêdo. Photo: AFPPremium
WTO director-general Roberto Azevêdo. Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Attempts to resolve the impasse over India’s objection to the adoption of the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) by 31 July at the World Trade Organization (WTO) failed to yield results on Tuesday, even after its director-general Roberto Azevêdo met various groups of countries.

With less than 48 hours left to resolve the crisis, Azevêdo met coordinators from 15 WTO groups on Tuesday and asked them to remain available on short notice, WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell said in reply to Mint’s queries.

“Director-general Azevêdo briefed the coordinators on the state of play and outlined the steps he has taken so far and the actions he plans to take in the coming hours. He stressed that there are less than 48 hours to resolve the crisis and that all WTO members should be on call to meet on short notice," Rockwell said.

“The impasse on the Bali issues has raised deep concerns among WTO members on the future of Doha Round negotiations of which the 10 Bali agreements are a part," Rockwell added.

The trade facilitation pact reached in Bali, Indonesia, last year is meant to simplify customs procedures, facilitate the speedy release of goods from ports and cut transaction costs—measures that could benefit rich nations more than developing countries such as India.

At the heart of the problem is a WTO rule that caps subsidies to farmers in developing countries at 10% of the total value of agricultural production, based on 1986-88 prices. Developing countries complain that the base year is outdated and that they need to be given leeway to stock enough foodgrains for food security of millions of their poor.

India’s permanent representative at WTO, Anjali Prasad, on Friday put India’s position before the general council meeting of WTO, holding that the Bali outcomes were negotiated as a package and must be concluded as such. She sought a postponement in the 31 July deadline for implementation of the TFA till 31 December, for members to put their heads together to find a permanent solution to the food security problem.

In a statement in the lower house of Parliament on Friday, trade minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India had taken the stand that unless there was an “assurance and visible outcomes" which convince developing countries that WTO members will engage in negotiations with a commitment to find a permanent solution to food security and all other Bali decisions, especially those related to the least developed countries, “India would find it difficult to join the consensus on the Protocol of Amendment".

New Delhi has support from only a handful of countries such as South Africa, Bolivia, Cuba and Venzuela.

Biswajit Dhar, professor of international trade at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that unless India radically shifts its stand, which he thinks is unlikely, there is no possibility of a middle-ground solution. “Though a lot of countries have not come out in the open supporting us, only a group of 26 countries have opposed our position. India has to use its economic diplomacy to make other countries vocal about our stand," he added.

WTO has 160 members.

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Published: 29 Jul 2014, 11:56 PM IST
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