WTO Brazil Meet
India firm on farm issues
Ann/ The Statesman
Standing firm on agricultural issues in the suspended Doha Round of negotiations, India has underlined once again the need to correct the structural flaws in the world trade in agriculture arising out of trade distorting subsidies given by the developed countries The development content of the Doha Round must not be diluted, said India's commerce and industry minister, Kamal Nath at a G20 high level meeting with coordinators of other developing country groups in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which was held in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday (Sept 9) to consider the status of the Doha Round of negotiations. Addressing the G20 Press conference in Rio, Kamal Nath emphasised the close cooperation and synergies between India and Brazil as well as all developing country groupings. He stressed that the G20 was united even though it represented diverse interests. Referring to the joint statement of the G20 meeting which was issued in Rio on Sept 9, he said: "We remain engaged, but would like to see the response of the developed countries to our communiqué." The joint statement made it clear that agriculture lay at the centre of the Doha Development Agenda. "Most of the world's poor make their living out of agriculture. Their livelihood and standard of living are seriously jeopardised by the subsidies and market access barriers prevailing in international agricultural trade."
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