Nath sticks to guns at meeting with Lamy

NEW DELHI: Commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday said that India cannot offer further market access in agriculture and industrial goods sector, till developed countries agree to reduce agriculture subsidies substantially.

During a meeting with World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy on Wednesday, he said that India could not compromise on the food and livelihood security of its farmers.

Mr Lamy met the commerce & industry minister in Geneva as part of his exercise in bridging differences among key WTO members. Mr Lamy is trying to build consensus on liberalisation of agriculture and industrial goods so that the modalities for cutting tariffs and subsidies are in place by the month-end.

According to sources, Mr Kamal Nath said that it was imperative for India to protect its farmers and small industry. He pointed out to the DG that till farm subsidies provided by the developed world is substantially reduced, it would be suicidal to bring down farm tariffs.

Mr Lamy has started the process of consensus-building and has already met politicians and officials in Japan.The WTO DG was entrusted with the task of generating a compromise between key members including India, China, Brazil, Japan, the EU and the US, when the much-hyped mini-ministerial talks in Geneva in June-end failed to produce results.

Mr Lamy has been asked to prepare a draft modalities text on agriculture and industrial goods based on his talks with the WTO membership. If he manages to pull it off, the draft would be subjected to the scrutiny and approval of members in another mini-ministerial meet later this month.

Attempts would also be made to take the stalled negotiations forward at the G-8 summit of heads of nations scheduled to begin in St Petersburg on July 15. Leaders from India, Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa will also participate in the meet as special invitees. The ongoing Doha round of talks are scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of the year.