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India is being marginalised at Geneva: CUTS
Economic Times, July 28, 2008

India is getting increasingly marginalised at the WTO mini-ministerial meet at Geneva as the country's Commerce Minister was not allowed to negotiate "freely" and there was pressure from rich nations to open Indian markets, a senior official of CUTS said today.

Quoting Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath as saying "I am not allowed to negotiate", Secretary General of CUTS, a consumer policy research and advocacy group, Pradeep S Mehta said most of the India's concerns on market access in agriculture and industry have either been rejected or diluted.

"This is symptomatic of the negotiating style which the rich follow to brow beat the poor, just overwhelm otherwise call them spoilsports," Mehta said.

He said Indian Minister has asserted that the talks were becoming more like advancing the interests of prosperous classes while ignoring those whose livelihood security depends crucially on trade and trade-related matters.

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