No compromise at WTO, says Nirmala

Minister of State (Independent) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman assured the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the government would not compromise on national interests during WTO negotiations. She said the new decisions of the General Council were “an improvement” upon the Bali agreement which was “imperfect.”

Asserting that it was the sovereign right of the country to do course correction, she said that under the new decisions, WTO members would not challenge the public stockholding programmes of developing countries for food security purposes which would remain in perpetuity until a permanent solution regarding the issue was “agreed and adopted.”

Responding to clarifications sought by members on her statement made last month, Ms. Sitharaman emphasised that the decision of the General Council — acting as a ministerial — on public stockholding for food security purposes was “in perpetuity,” not just till the 11th ministerial, which removed ambiguity on the issue. Till a permanent solution was “agreed and adopted,” members “shall” not drag any member-country to the disputes resolution mechanism. To the Opposition’s charge that India had gone into the WTO talks like ‘Abhimanyu’ in a “chakravyuh” (quagmire), she said: “I would like to tell you here in no uncertain terms that we have got in as an ‘Abhimanyu’ but came out successfully with 160 friends, building on our predecessor, who had 93 friends.”

Source: The Hindu