India’s stand prevails in Bali

[neehar]

India has had its way on the Bali Package at the Ninth Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation here. The draft Ministerial Decision put up for endorsement to the member-countries is the draft India submitted; it takes care of India’s position on both food security and trade facilitation. Ministers were expected to adopt it by early Saturday. As they do so, it would be the first major decision of the century on global trade after the WTO came into being, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here.

The draft proposes an interim mechanism to safeguard minimum support prices to farmers against WTO caps till a permanent solution is adopted.

Over the past two days, WTO Director-General (DG) Roberto Azevedo and Ministerial Chair and Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan held marathon meetings with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Mr. Sharma. “We live in interesting times, but I stand firm on the Indian position of food security,” Mr. Sharma said while on his way out of his meeting with the three “giants”.

Later on Friday, he told The Hindu he had rejected the text prepared by the DG for the Ministerial Decision. “Ambassador Froman told me he would need a mandate from Washington to agree with us, and I told him to convey to President Obama that we wouldn’t like to see him stand against developing countries’ right to food — and I found the USTR receptive.”

Three hours after this meeting, at 3 a.m., India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO in Geneva Jayant Dasgupta handed over to the DG, the Bali text India had prepared. On Friday morning, the DG put up India’s proposed Bali text to the heads of delegations after a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Froman. He assured the heads of delegates that no members would be forced to adopt the final text of the Bali deal now being worked out, said official sources. \

A range of gains for Delhi at Ministerial



* Food Security Law may push India’s minimum support prices above WTO limits, but interim mechanism provides safeguards till WTO rules are corrected

* Agreement on Trade Facilitation could boost India’s exports

* India spearheads first agreement in the nine Ministerials held after the Doha Round

* India gains global leadership by getting a crucial poor-rich country imbalance corrected on a multilateral forum

* Support subsidies to poor farmers across all developing countries get safeguards against WTO rules

* With Bali outcomes, Doha Round and therefore WTO remain alivSuccess a tribute to Nelson Mandela, says Anand Sharma

India’s stand prevails in Bali - The Hindu

Ministers appeared close to sealing the world's biggest trade reform for two decades on Friday after India, the most vocal holdout, endorsed a draft text presented by the head of the World Trade Organisation.

The deal, thrashed out at talks on the Indonesian island of Bali, would lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs.

Analysts estimate that over time it could boost the world economy by hundreds of billions of dollars and create more than 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries.





Failure would have represented a body blow to the 159-nation WTO, formed in 1995 and still without a major trade deal to its credit after many years of negotiating fiascos.

"It is a victory for the WTO and for the global community to have arrived at a mature decision," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma told reporters. "We are more than happy. It is a great day. It is a historic day."

The deal requires unanimous support, and a potential veto could still come from Cuba, whose representative banged the table and shouted at WTO chief Roberto Azevedo after the meeting where his draft agreement was distributed to all the members, a participant at the meeting said.

Cuba has been consistently demanding the United States lift its economic embargo of the Caribbean island as part of the Bali agreement, but trade diplomats say it has made the same demand for decades and they do not expect it to block a deal.

Heads of delegation were to resume informal talks in the early hours of Saturday, but a diplomat said the meeting had been delayed by an hour because of last-minute concerns about the wording of a compromise on food subsidies.

That is the vital issue for India, which this year announced a massive programme for stockpiling food to feed to the poor, in breach of the WTO rules on subsidies.

Another diplomat said the delay was caused by Cuba consulting with Azevedo.

Red Tape

Azevedo, a Brazilian diplomat, took the helm of the WTO in September and immediately launched a punishing regime of round-the-clock talks and "whatever works" diplomacy. Even so, the outcome had appeared in grave doubt as recently as Thursday.

If agreed, the reform would slash red tape at customs around the world, give improved terms of trade to the poorest countries, and allow developing countries to skirt the normal rules on farm subsidies if they are trying to feed the poor.

It would also revive confidence in the WTO's ability to negotiate global trade deals, after it consistently failed to clinch agreement in the Doha round of talks that started in 2001 and proved hugely over-ambitious.

As the Doha round stuttered to a halt, momentum shifted away from global trade pacts in favour of regional deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the United States is negotiating with 11 other countries, and a similar agreement it is pursuing bilaterally with the European Union.

Failure in Bali would have led to a more divided world, with regional blocs reversing the WTO's globalising goals, some experts say.

The "Bali package" now on the table secures a handful of elements of the Doha round that were thought to be doable and declares a "strong resolve" to pursue agreement on the rest.

India's concerns that the Bali deal would give only a temporary shield to its food stockpile plan were resolved with wording that promised a search for a more permanent solution.

"The food security fix is something out of 1984, George Orwell would be proud," said Simon Evenett, professor of international trade at the Swiss University of St Gallen.

"The food security text is so contradictory that there must be an informal understanding among the big players as to what it really means."

Many diplomats had predicted Sharma, whose government is entering a bruising electoral battle, would use Bali as a platform where India could be seen to stand against the rich world in defence of the poor.

But India was under pressure to accept an eventual compromise, because failure of the Bali package would leave its food subsidy programme exposed to trade disputes that could lead to billions of dollars in trade sanctions.

The meat of the Bali deal is an agreement known in WTO jargon as "trade facilitation": streamlining and standardising customs and port procedures to speed trade globally.

A study by the Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute of International Economics estimated it would inject $960 billion into the global economy and create 21 million jobs, 18 million of them in developing countries.

India has its way at WTO as food security plan prevails - Hindustan Times

 

[GR!FF!N]

BALI: The government on Friday claimed major gains at the World Trade Organization as members accepted its demand on food security that will protect India and other developing countries from penalties for breaching the domestic subsidy cap of 10% of value of production. In return, India agreed to a new agreement on trade facilitation, the first since WTO was set up nearly two decades ago, that will ease controls at ports and airports and may provide a boost of up to $1 trillion to the global economy.

"It's a great day because. It's a historic decision. It's a victory not only for India but for all developing countries. It's a victory for WTO and all countries who have come to a mature decision," said an elated commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma while coming out of a meeting where the decision was circulated to WTO's 159 members.

Politically, the Congress party will claim a major victory as it will help it roll out the UPA's flagship National Food Security Act without any hurdles. In addition, it will help blunt any opposition from principal opposition BJP and the Left parties.

But the result was not easy as India shrugged off pressure and stuck to its demand. Trade ministers spent the last four days trying to bridge differences over a trade deal that has remained elusive for years. The Bali package, as it is being called, is the first success in the Doha Round of negotiations that started 12 years ago with a view to help developing and poor countries. For India, the victory was particularly sweet as it managed to have its way despite major players China and Brazil backing out, leaving South Africa as the only major ally along with Argentina and some large African countries such as Kenya and Nigeria.

While members have virtually accepted the draft circulated by WTO, an endorsement is seen as a formality.

As demanded by India, developing countries will now be able to continue with their public procurement programmes without fearing a possible breach in the ceiling. A ruling in its favour will help the government roll out the food security law without any hurdles as procurement hiccups could have impacted the implementation of UPA's flagship scheme.

Although India has still not exceeded the 10% limit, higher minimum support price and increased quantities of purchases are pushing up the domestic subsidy level as 1986-88 prices are used to calculate the level of support.

Civil society groups, however, pointed out that developing countries can still be dragged to WTO seeking penalties for violation of rules on subsidies. The government, however, refuted the charges. Countering their other charge, Sharma later told reporters that there are no restrictions on launching new food security schemes.

To get the food subsidy benefits, the government will have to comply with conditions such as the support offered by it and if it is nearing the 10% limit. In addition, the benefit will be available for all crops.

There were other gains for the developing countries such as Brazil, China and India more competitive in international markets. The least developed countries too got a package of sorts.

The trade facilitation agreement will, however, require changes in Indian laws, especially the Customs Act, a quicker transition to electronic payments across ports and a special set of rules to speed up courier flow at airports.

While upgradation of ports and airports will require large investments, the government has turned down any assistance saying it is already improving infrastructure and can easily finance it.

India has its way at WTO on food plan - The Times of India

only backing of South Africa,Argentina,Kenya and Nigeria and few other african Countries,India pushed all the hurdles..congrats... Brazil and China chickened out....