core sector communique

Anand Sharma Reaffirms India’s Commitment to Balanced Outcome of the Doha Round

Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, during his meeting with Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO, in Geneva yesterday, reaffirmed India’s commitment to an ambitious and balanced outcome of the Doha round. He recalled that world leaders have also reaffirmed their commitment to an early conclusion of Doha Round at the G-20 Summits and added that the issue would come up again in the G-20 Seoul meeting next month. “Sustaining trade and investment flows is critical for the future prosperity of developed and developing economies alike. They recognized that one of the main threats to the revival of trade flows is the rising protectionist pressures and continued delay in concluding the Doha Round. Therefore, strengthening the multilateral trading system by concluding the Doha Round at the earliest is a vital imperative”, Shri Sharma emphasized. Shri Sharma also met Ambassadors of the key players in the Doha Round, including the G33, NAMA 11 and the recently constituted G11, Chairs of Agriculture, NAMA and Services.

Shri Sharma pointed out that since March 2010 stock taking, while some progress has been achieved in small group meetings, the text based negotiations led by the chairs must resume at the earliest. He said that while there are still a few gaps and large number of unresolved issues, the December 2008 texts of Agriculture and NAMA presented, a fine balance and any attempt to revisit settled issues would potentially unravel the round itself. He said that 2011 presented a “Year of opportunity” for conclusion of the round and felt that through the G20 summit in Seoul, a strong articulation of political intent would lend the necessary momentum to negotiations.

The Minister stressed that Doha Round negotiations hold the promise of raising standards of living worldwide, alleviating global poverty, removing inequities in the trade regime, and enhancing international stability especially in times of global financial and economic crisis. There are signs of recovery, however, there are also continuing concerns on the uncertainty on the prospects of the recovery as many countries have not fully recovered from the impact of the crisis. The conclusion of the Round would provide a big boost to help recovery. Shri Sharma reiterated that this is a Development Round and the mandate of the Doha Round is non-negotiable and should be respected. The final outcome must correct the historical distortions and address structural flaws in the global trading regime, while responding to the legitimate concerns and aspirations of the poor in the developing world. The Special safeguard mechanisms and special products are crucial to protect the livelihood concerns of millions of small and marginal farmers in the developing world.