| Press Information Bureau
Government of India
INDIA CAUTIONS ON SINGAPORE ISSUES New Delhi: 23 June, 2003 Participating in the informal meeting of WTO trade ministers at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, India has cautioned on Singapore issues by stating that the structure and content of the Singapore issues are still unclear and hence, has reservations about entering into negotiations of any kind without a full understanding of the nature and structure of the agreement that would result from such negotiations. India's statement on Singapore issues i.e., investment, transparency in government procurement, competition policy and trade facilitation, was read out on behalf of the Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Arun Jaitley at the Session on Singapore issues on 22nd June by Shri S.N. Menon, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as the Minister had to leave for Beijing to join the Prime Minister on his official visit to China. The statement said that India had consistently opposed expansion of the WTO agenda to include new issues. "However, in view of the interest shown by some trading partners, we embarked on a clarification process, following the decision taken at Doha. This was subject to the condition that negotiations on modalities of (discussing) these issues will proceed after Cancun only after an explicit consensus... We have engaged actively in the process of consultation in the three Working Groups constituted for the purpose ... However, the position is that the structure and content of the Singapore issues is still unclear. For example, we do not know the scope and definition of investment: whether it is confined to foreign direct investment that contributes to trade or whether it includes portfolio investment and other short-term forms of capital flows; whether a multilateral Agreement would lead to more investment and in respect of pre-establishment, what about sovereignty and policy space. There is no clarity regarding the scope of competition, whether it applies both to international and national cartels and, if the former, what kind of multilateral arrangement will come into existence for the purpose. We have not even defined the scope of transparency in government procurements and there is no definite view on the threshold levels or on whether it would apply to entities other than federal governments. We are not convinced about the need of multilateralism on these issues". Stating that a political mandate to take a decision on negotiation of modalities was possible only after a clear understanding of the issues involved in a multilateral framework on the Singapore issues and that negotiations could not commence on the basis of procedural modalities, the statement also made the point that the Singapore issues could not be regarded as being part of one bundle to be treated alike in the matter of modalities. At the same time, India would participate constructively in the discussions on these issues in Geneva under the aegis of the WTO General Council, as in the past, the statement added. |
