Global Policy Forum

By K S Dakshina Murthy

Bangalore, August 17 - India today called for a total rejection of new issues such as social clauses or governance sought to be included in the World Trade Organisation agenda at the behest of developed countries. Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural sitting of the G15 ministerial meeting here, Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde said India viewed efforts to induct such issues in the WTO (World Trade Organisation) as thinly disguised efforts to impede the free flow of trade in items of export interest to developing countries. Touching on the recent controversy over patenting of neem and other plants, Mr Hegde said fundamentally, it was necessary to recognise the sovereign rights of nations over their biological resources. "We need to also ensure that right holders of traditional knowledge derive legitimate benefits when such knowledge is used, rather than being faced with continued piracy," he said.

The G15 ministerial meet at Bangalore is in preparation for the III Ministerial Conference of WTO at Seattle, in the United States, in November this year. Mr Hegde said the meeting here was particularly concerned with fair and conducive international trading environment. At Seattle, developing countries must focus on the implementation issues, where the record is uneven and significantly short of expectations, Mr Hegde said. Even in the textiles and agricultural sectors, agreements which were hailed as major breakthroughs by developing countries, benefits have not accrued as earlier projected, he added. In the agricultural sector, there is an inherent inequity in the agreement itself which allows developed countries to maintain high levels of protection, which are not allowed developing countries, the Commerce Minister pointed out. "We need to work towards introducing greater equity and balance in the agreement and dismantle trade distorting measures," he said.

Market access for developing countries is getting affected in other areas as well due to widespread use of anti-dumping and countervailing action, Mr Hegde said. The adoption of unrealistically high standards that effectively constitute technical barriers to trade, combined with resort to sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, have also substantially eroded the market access commitments given by advanced countries, he added. Movement of highly skilled service providers and professionals from developing to the developed countries remains effectively circumscribed, Mr Hegde said. In the guise of 'economic needs test', real access of this section to their markets is virtually sealed off, he said.

The Minister made it clear that lack of implementation or non-fulfilment of obligations of the Uruguay Round of Agreements by developed countries could not be used by them as bargaining instruments for obtaining further concessions from developed countries. Earlier, the Minister of state for external affairs, Ms Vasundhara Raje said as mentioned in the World Trade Organisation preamble, the discussion should keep in view objectives such as raising the standard of living, full employment and sustainable development.

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