Let nations trade
Financial Express, August 31, 2008

By Siddhartha Mitra

Globalisation is a much punched bag; the xenophobic traits that all humans possess in some measure actually encourage such punching. Yet most people and the many anti-globalisation bodies they form do not realise that the world and they themselves would be much better off if their punches had been directed elsewhere.

A wonderful actor might be involved in a flop; the problem in most cases is with the plot and sometimes the insipid co-star. Sensible producers still continue to line up outside his door armed with better plots and promises to hire more competent actresses.

Such sensible producers offer a contrast to anti-globalisers who despite the association of trade with rising affluence in many parts of the world focus only on cases where it has been associated with deepening deprivation and indebtedness. They also forget to examine the often naughty and defaulting hand maidens of liberalisation — infrastructure, governance and human capital formation — but take the easy way out to blame liberalisation itself.

All of us trade without realising it. People like me sell our human capital services or skilled labour for a monthly salary. With our salaries we satisfy our varied need for services (that of a cook, a chauffeur, a barber etc) and commodities (food items, durables etc). This in effect is trade in the same sense as that which occurs between nations: we trade our skilled labour for all the items we need. Nobody deters individuals from trading. In fact their very survival depends upon the ability to trade. None of us living in this modern age can even think of producing the hundreds of commodities that we use every month, from staid trash bags to fragrant shaving cream, on our own.

Moreover, despite trade among individuals, there are poor people just as we have poor nations in an interlocked trading world. Most people are poor because they cannot offer anything that is valued by others. The illiterate villager, crowded out of his land by the multiplication of his kith and kin, might have nothing to offer to other rural or urban dwellers and finds himself condemned to poverty.

In certain cases, there are too many people offering services of the same kind (such as cleaning, washing, sweeping, even digging ditches) — life is thus reduced to a cruel lottery with a fraction of those offering a service actually managing to eke out an income through its provision, leaving others unemployed and impoverished.

The argument being made is as follows: just as the essentiality of trade among individuals for their survival is not in doubt, similarly the potential and wide ranging therapeutic effect of international trade on nations should not invite scepticism.

Just as trade among individuals cannot lift everybody of poverty — otherwise India would never have seen 50% of her population living below the poverty line in 1972, trade among countries might not make all countries rich and with good reason. Such inability does not imply that we point our guns at ‘globalisation’ per se; instead it is essential to ensure that the mentioned hand maidens do their job. Trade is a harbinger of development but only when the hand maidens stop sulking and start delivering.

The following example, in the form of a fable, might cure doubting Thomases of some of their scepticism about the benefits of trade among communities/nations:

In the valley of flowers everything else has stopped growing. The human inhabitants, on the verge of starvation, have given up all hope when in walk a bunch of explorers from a neighbouring land laden with food, drink and other provisions. They are quite taken by the wild flowers of different hues and are ready to pay for these in terms of food and drink, which in any case they have in surplus. The flowers they buy enrich their lives; at the same time, inter-community trade saves the inhabitants of the flowering valley from starvation.

This fable, with a Bollywood type saccharine ring to it, nevertheless is both illustrative and representative of the huge potential benefits that might flow from trade — gains that have been exploited by South Korea, then China and finally India and Vietnam to grow and escape from the poverty trap. This is not to say that international trade will be the saviour under all circumstances. As pointed out earlier, the presence of opportunities for trade among individuals, though essential for their survival, is often not sufficient; it is then foolish to expect international trade to have all the answers. Just like poor individuals, poor countries may remain so because they have nothing to offer the rest of the world.

Trade in this case might just become a distraction; it results in no additional income but introduces countries to the attractions of the global market place. Some borrow, spend on these attractions and get mired knee deep in debt. Is this any different from a man borrowing a huge amount from the local money lender and going on a spending spree? Moreover, is this a good reason for every country to close its trading doors to the rest of the world? Of course not; the potential benefits dwarf the losses that might result from misuse of the trading instrument. All of man’s modern inventions—the telephone, television, internet, credit cards to name just a few— can and have been misused. But given the huge benefits that they confer on society and humanity, nobody calls for a ban on these; their use and popularity increase by the month. Why should ‘international trade’ be the odd one out?

The author is Director (Research), CUTS International, a leading research, advocacy and networking group and can be reached at sm2@cuts.org

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 WTO talks highlight emerging nations’ power
Financial Express, August 27, 2008

When ministers from over 30 countries gathered at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva last month and failed to arrive at a consensus on market-opening commitments in agriculture and industrial goods in the first few days, WTO director general Pascal Lamy resorted to a short cut to achieve a breakthrough quickly.

He formed a core group of seven countries that included representatives of both developing and developed countries. This select group included India, Brazil, China, the European Union, the US, Japan and Australia. Significantly, Lamy said later that a similar core group around 15 years ago would have included the US, the EU, Canada and Japan as they were the important players then, but now it had to be a group of seven including “big brothers” like India, Brazil and China. “This is because the world has changed,” he admitted.

The growing clout of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries was evident even more in the WTO talks as India and China stood up to enormous pressure from the US to weaken the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). The SSM enables developing countries to impose additional duties to protect the livelihood of poor farmers from import surges of farm products and their fall in prices. The issue eventually led to the failure of the marathon negotiations on the ninth day.

Of course, it is another story that Brazil broke ranks with other developing country allies in this aspect due to their aggressive interests in the farm export business. Significantly, Brazil’s agri-exports were worth over $58 billion last year.

But the leadership of developing countries taken up by both India and China to protect hundreds of millions of poor farmers had the backing of around 100 countries including the G-33 (the group of countries including India, Indonesia, Cuba, Philippines and Venezuela, all with defensive interests in agriculture), African Group comprising all African WTO members, the ACP group including African, Carribean and Pacific nations, and the small and vulnerable economies (SVEs).

Goldman Sachs, that coined the acronym BRIC in 2001, had predicted last year that that India’s GDP per capita in US dollar terms will quadruple by 2020 from the 2007-level, and also the country’s economy will overtake the US in dollar terms by 2043. Besides, the economic output of the BRIC countries will be more than the powerful G-7 in 2032. It is worth noting that despite having a GDP of.

When ministers from over 30 countries gathered at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva last month and failed to arrive at a consensus on market-opening commitments in agriculture and industrial goods in the first few days, WTO director general Pascal Lamy resorted to a short cut to achieve a breakthrough quickly.

He formed a core group of seven countries that included representatives of both developing and developed countries. This select group included India, Brazil, China, the European Union, the US, Japan and Australia. Significantly, Lamy said later that a similar core group around 15 years ago would have included the US, the EU, Canada and Japan as they were the important players then, but now it had to be a group of seven including “big brothers” like India, Brazil and China. “This is because the world has changed,” he admitted.

The growing clout of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries was evident even more in the WTO talks as India and China stood up to enormous pressure from the US to weaken the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). The SSM enables developing countries to impose additional duties to protect the livelihood of poor farmers from import surges of farm products and their fall in prices. The issue eventually led to the failure of the marathon negotiations on the ninth day.

Of course, it is another story that Brazil broke ranks with other developing country allies in this aspect due to their aggressive interests in the farm export business. Significantly, Brazil’s agri-exports were worth over $58 billion last year.

But the leadership of developing countries taken up by both India and China to protect hundreds of millions of poor farmers had the backing of around 100 countries including the G-33 (the group of countries including India, Indonesia, Cuba, Philippines and Venezuela, all with defensive interests in agriculture), African Group comprising all African WTO members, the ACP group including African, Carribean and Pacific nations, and the small and vulnerable economies (SVEs).

Goldman Sachs, that coined the acronym BRIC in 2001, had predicted last year that that India’s GDP per capita in US dollar terms will quadruple by 2020 from the 2007-level, and also the country’s economy will overtake the US in dollar terms by 2043. Besides, the economic output of the BRIC countries will be more than the powerful G-7 in 2032. It is worth noting that despite having a GDP of Inspite of BRIC’s increasing influence in WTO talks, many experts are doubtful whether it would translate into any immediate gains for these countries.

Says Pradeep S Mehta, secretary general of CUTS International, an NGO tracking WTO talks: “Brazil, India and China would lose only very marginally even if the Doha Round talks were to fail ultimately. Besides, the South-South trade (or the trade between the developing countries) is growing as against traditional rich OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) markets.”Noting the growing South-South trade, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) took the initiative to hold negotiations of the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) among developing countries. Currently, there are 43 developing country members of GSTP, but it does not include China and South Africa.

“Already the third round of GSTP talks is getting closer to completion. When it is completed, the developing country-to-developing country market access issues will be taken care of,” says Nagesh Kumar, director general of the New Delhi-based think-tank Research and Information System for Developing countries (RIS).

Lakshmi Puri, acting deputy secretary general, UNCTAD, says the GSTP countries account for $1.8 trillion in exports and $1.6 trillion in imports. “They account for 50% of South-South trade. Total intra-GSTP exports is $813 billion and in Asia 25% is intra-GSTP trade,” she adds. The GSTP can facilitate South-South trade liberalisation and also help countries like India gain market access in other important developing country markets in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean without having to enter into bilateral trade agreements with each of them, experts say. This way, GSTP can also save countries like India from making major concessions to developed countries at WTO.
 

According to UNCTAD, the share of developing countries in world trade tripled from 1995 to $3.7 trillion, or around 36% now. Also, South-South merchandise exports, as a share of total world merchandise exports, stood at 17% in 2006, from 10% around 10 years ago. Interestingly, in 2006, more than 46% of developing country merchandise exports were bound for other developing countries, UNCTAD says. The share of inter-regional trade in total South-South trade also showed an increasing trend and has reached 18% in 2005.

Puri says that from just 38% in 1995, presently around 53% of India’s merchandise exports are currently bound to other developing countries. “While India’s total merchandise trade with developed countries of the world has grown at an annually averaged rate of 12% between 1995 and 2005, its South-South trade has grown faster, at 17%,” she points out. Although India’s foreign trade has increased by over 270% from 1995 to 2005, its trade with developed countries has grown by only 176% over this period as against the 323% rise in trade with the South, she adds.

On the other hand, RIS in a recent policy brief had quoted a World Bank study saying out of the projected the gains of a successful Doha Round global trade deal of $96 billion, developing countries can garner a share of only $16 billion. “The developing country benefits are just 0.16% of the GDP. In per capita terms, that amounts to $3.13, or less than a penny per day per capita for those in developing countries,” the RIS says.

This mean a poor worker or farmer earning $100 a month would see an increase of just 16 cents in 2015, it says, adding that projected per capita income gains of rich countries were 25 times of that made by developing nations. At the recent talks in Geneva, the US has agreed to commit at the WTO level to bring down their overall trade distorting subsidies to $14.4 billion. But this is more than twice the amount of subsidies they are currently giving to their farmers, which is $7 billion, Kumar points out.RIS also says the total tariff losses in industrial goods for developing countries would amount to $63.4 billion, which is around four times of the projected gains.

But according to Lamy, said a global trade deal would result in reduction of import tariffs across the world by half the amount of what is today. “There would be savings in the order to $150 billion in tariffs,” he had said, highlighting that developing countries would be the beneficiaries of two-third of this amount.

Mehta says that, however, despite insignificant gains, India, Brazil and China would continue to support WTO due to its rules-based system that will help solve international trade disputes.

Even Russia, which is not yet a WTO member and therefore, has no vote to support or veto issues, has a big delegation in WTO and participates as an observer, he says. WTO’s dispute settlement system seems to be saving its grace as of now.

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Workshop on South Asia
Newindpress,August 20, 2008

KOCHI: The International Centre for Economic Policy and Analysis (ICEPA), Cusat, and CUTS International, Jaipur, and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES-India) are jointly organising a national workshop on `Regional economic cooperation in South Asia' with focus on `Indo-Sri Lanka trade' at the School of Management Studies on August 21.

The workshop is part of a series of national consultation aimed at assessing the prospects of India's approach towards regional economic cooperation in South and South-East Asia in bilateral and regional settings. The recommendation will be taken forward to various levels, including the Centre and inter-governmental bodies.

India and Sri Lanka are negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) to build upon the India- Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement by widening the coverage through inclusion of trade in services, investment and economic cooperation. The discussions are being held in three regional centres in the country.

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Govt officials to undergo training by Raj-based NGO
Business Standard, August 17, 2008

Non-governmental think-tank on trade and regulatory issues CUTS will organise a training programme in Jaipur from August 18-21 for middle-level Indian government officials and business executives.

The training programme 'Strengthening Skills on Commercial and Economic Diplomacy' is supported by the Department of Commerce, Government of India and seeks to fill the vacuum that exists in terms of an absence of institutional base on commercial and economic diplomacy, CUTS said in a statement here today.

Governor of Rajasthan S K Singh would inaugurate the event which would seek to imbibe in the participants skills on commercial and economic diplomacy through lectures, simulation exercises, group discussions, among other things.

The programme would cover various aspects of commercial and economic diplomacy such as opportunities and challenges of India in the global economy in 2020, trade promotion activities from Uruguay Round to Doha Round and simulation exercises on trade and investment negotiations.

"It was felt that developing country representatives often do not perform at the same level of efficiency and effectiveness as their counterparts from developed countries in the application of various tools of commercial and economic diplomacy," the statement said, adding such programmes are important in imparting government officials with the requisite knowledge and skills.

Former Indian Ambassador to the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) B K Zutshi, Former Commerce Secretary of India S N Menon, Senior Fellow, DiploFoundation and a former Indian Ambassador to Germany Kishan S Rana would be among few experts at the training programme.

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`I can't set the timeline for conclusion of the Doha Round'
Business Line, August 15, 2008

At a time when the global economy is set for a slowdown, particularly in the developed countries such as the US and the European Union (EU), the call for opening up trade is not heeded and the tendency is to erect barriers, both tariff and non-tariff, to protect one another from the blast of competition.

But it is precisely in these troubled times that the world needs a rule-based multilateral trading system where the gains of liberalisation and economies of scale would help many a nation in weathering their domestic troubles - this is applicable to both developed and developing countries.

Yet, in an irony of sorts, the members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a group of 153 countries, failed to evolve the modalities or parameters for such liberalisation in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) at a crucial mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva during end-July.

It is not for the first time that the talks among trade negotiators under the Doha Round of the WTO have failed; the deadlines have been repeatedly missed - Cancun (Mexico) in September 2003, Hong Kong in 2005, and subsequently in Geneva (2006) and Potsdam (Germany) in 2007.

However, the WTO Director- General, Mr Pascal Lamy, who was in the Capital recently to attend the silver jubilee function of CUTS (a civil society organisation) and also to try and pick up the thread of broken talks with the Indian authorities and to gauge their moods, seemed unfazed by the string of failures to arrive at a consensus on contentious issues.

Being an avid jogger and indefatigable interlocutor in the adroit art of bringing warring members to the negotiating table to try and succeed in the trade opening exercise, Mr Lamy concedes that though the opening up of markets spawns benefits to many, it also exacts adjustment costs which cannot be ignored.

He avers that opening up of trade works for development and removal of poverty but only "if we address the imbalances it creates between winners and losers, imbalances that are all the more dangerous the more fragile the economies, societies or countries."

Not the one to ignore detractors who upbraid the WTO as an octopus organisation, Mr Lamy contends that WTO is "a consensus-based member-driven body, providing the basis of a system in which each country - even the smallest - counts. This is where its legitimacy lies. No Security Council in the WTO and no board of directors".

In his sojourn interspersed with a spate of meetings and interviews, Mr Lamy spared half-an-hour to talk to Business Line.

What follows is Mr Lamy's take on what happened in Geneva and what he is doing to make members meet so that they all can deliver results to bolster the multilateral trading system:

"After the talks broke down in with the membership and they all said that what was there on the table remains on the table, so conclusion of the Round is still in people's minds.

"The negotiations stumbled on the issue of the special safeguard measure (SSM) but designing a special safeguard measure to protect developing countries against import surges in food remains part of the "to do" list. Given the differences in positions between India and the US over the volume of imports which would be the trigger for the safeguard measures and on the size of the remedy, I decided to visit India and the United States to see how the differences could be bridged.

"My objective of the visit to Washington is the same as my mission here. Look back at what happened on the SSM - is it a technical problem or political problem? Has India well understood what the US concerns were? Has the US well understood what India's concerns were?

"We have a long history of safeguard spanning 60 years in the GATT-WTO (GATT is a predecessor to the WTO). The discussion has been on not whether there should be safeguards or not but what should be the parameters so that they are used in exceptional circumstances without disturbing normal trade. This time, what is normal and what is exceptional is where the differences could not be bridged.

"We have a single undertaking and the rule is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Within this single undertaking, it happened that agriculture and industrial tariffs (NAMA) should go together as set out in the famous Hong Kong Declaration in Para 24. Once modalities in these two are framed, other issues like rules, services and anti-dumping would automatically get moving.

"At the July meeting, 17 out of 20 items in the list on the agenda were agreed. Later, the reports of the Chairs of Agriculture and NAMA, released in August 11 and 12 in Geneva, faithfully reflected the state of negotiations. The ministers did not do item number 18 - whether this is a sort of insurmountable hurdle or whether this hurdle can, with a little bit of time, understanding, talking, research and negotiations, be overcome remains to be seen. Now we still have issues such as cotton subsidy in the US, and intellectual property rights.

"No doubt, there has to be an agreement on slashing down subsidies on cotton by the US as they are more than corn or peanuts. We did not get there because of the linkage between productspecific caps in the amber and blue box (permissible subsidies).

"G-7 process composing Australia, Brazil, China, the European Communities, India, Japan and the United States works in concentric circles within which possible compromises are presented and these float in the G-7 and go to G-30 or G-35 (five times bigger) and if the talks float there too, they go to the whole WTO membership numbering 153 (five times bigger).

"I am not in the betting business. Negotiators are in the business. I am in the business trying to make things happen from the moment members want me to help them trying to get there. I can't set the timeline for conclusion of the Round.

"Contrary to what western and sometime Indian media write, China is a very active participant in the WTO negotiations. "Any WTO agreement will have to be ratified by the US Congress like it has to be ratified by constitutional process in India or Israel. If you look at the history of trade negotiations, no trade treaty has been agreed by the US Congress on a partisan basis. It has always been part-Democrats and part-Republicans."

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India ready for talks if Lamy gets positive U.S. response
Business Line, August 14, 2008

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday reiterated its willingness to join the global trade talks if World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy gets a positive response from the U.S. next week for resolving the Doha deadlock on safeguards for farmers in developing countries.

“We have always said if the WTO Director-General feels there is a chance for [another] opening, then we will be prepared to come again to Geneva,” Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai told journalists on the sidelines of a FICCI-CUTS conference here.

He said Mr. Lamy “would get back to us” after his visit to the U.S. and consultations with others.

Participating in a panel discussion, Mr. Lamy said there was a critical need for building consensus “as there is no other option available at this time.”

He said world trade had dramatically changed in the last two decades. “We now have 15 trade unions [country and regional groupings] within the WTO, which as powerful coalitions negotiate on the nitty-gritties of trade.” He emphasised the need to probe whether the rules encompassing the multilateral trading system reflected the pro-development stance. There was much greater participation, Mr. Lamy said. “In reality, in the ‘Green Room’ of today all the leaders of the Trade Unions [40 Ministers from different countries] are present.”

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Lamy sees major gains from Geneva commitments
Meri News, August 13, 2008

PASCAL LAMY, World Trade Organisation director general, on Tueday reeled out statistics on how the developing countries would get the lion’s share of gains from scheduled commitments made at the mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva last month. Kamal Nath, Union minister for commerce and industry, maintained that there were still major issues to be sorted out and called upon developed countries to return to the negotiating table in a spirit of sacrifice to bolster the economies of the poor nations.

Addressing the CUTS-FICCI Conference on ‘global partnership or development: Where do we stand and where to go, the WTO chief’s first interface with the Indian industry after the stalled mini-ministerial meeting, Lamy said, “If the current round had come to a successful conclusion last month, import tariffs would have come down by half, resulting in a saving of US$ 150 billion. The developing countries would have contributed a third of the sacrifice, but, benefitted to the extent of two thirds by way of savings."

Speaking on the occasion, Nath doggedly maintained that the Doha round is not about increasing the prosperity of the developed world, but, reducing the poverty of the developing countries.

“Unless this round sees healthy economies in the developing world, there would be no market access for the developed countries,” he said, adding that the truth is that because of the subsidies given by the rich nations, there have been no investments in agriculture in the developing countries.

On the issue of SSM for agriculture, he said, “If developing countries were to reduce tariff and if there is huge import surge, the remedy lay in capping the surge at 40 per cent. By the time imports reach that level, my farmers would have committed suicide,” he remarked.

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India may return to WTO talks
Business Standard, August 13, 2008

India today said it is willing to get back to global trade talks if WTO chief Pascal Lamy gets a positive signal from US next week for resolving the Doha deadlock on issue of safeguards for farmers in developing countries.

"We have always said if the WTO Director General feels there is a chance for (another) opening, then we will be prepared to come again to Geneva," Commerce Secretary G K Pillai told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI-CUTS conference here.

Pillai said Lamy "would get back to us," after he visit to the US and completes consultations with others.

A marathon meeting of 30 trade ministers failed to reach a common ground when they met in Geneva between July 21-29 on an issue of the level of protection for developing countries in case of import surge post a market-opening Doha deal.

In the core group of seven nations, India and China rejected the US proposals which would have meant little flexibility with the developing countries in case imports of agricultural commodities surge. "At 40 per cent (trigger for levying safeguard duty) my farmers would have committed suicides," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had said.

While Lamy declined to comment on whether he was trying another meeting of ministers, reports suggest chances of another major attempt to reach a breakthrough on a deal which, many hope, could provide the much-needed stimulus to the world economy, marked by slowdown and food crisis.

Participating in a panel discussion, Lamy said there is a critical need for building consensus "as there is no other option available at this time". He said world trade has dramatically changed in the last two decades. "We now have 15 trade unions (country and regional groupings) within the WTO, which as powerful coalitions negotiate on the nitty gritties of trade," Lamy said.

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Lamy seeks Doha discounts
Economic Times, August 13, 2008

It may not be curtains yet for the Doha round of multilateral talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Its director general Pascal Lamy said here on Tuesday that most members don’t want negotiations to be abandoned.

Mr Lamy urged India to make some concessions and help move the Doha round forward. The WTO DG met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to understand whether India wanted to continue working on the deal and what were its political compulsions. He will be visiting Washington next week on a similar mission.

The Geneva talks broke down over differences between India, backed by developing countries, and the US over special safeguard measures (SSM) to protect poor farmers against surge in imports. Stressing that India couldn’t change its position on the issue, commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath asked Mr Lamy to urge the US to understand India’s concerns. “Mr Lamy should lay down our concerns in agriculture and industry in his meetings in the US next week,” he said.

In interactions with the industry organised by Cuts, Ficci and CII, Mr Lamy said despite strong differences over how the issue of SSM should be tackled, members don’t want the talks to be abandoned at this point. “In the General Council meeting of the WTO, which followed the Geneva flop, most members said that too much has been achieved at the meet for the talks to be abandoned at this point,” he said.

Mr Lamy, who will retire in September 2009, is keen on ensuring a successful conclusion to the Doha round launched in November 2001. However, if the round is to be concluded some time soon, WTO members need to reach a conclusion on the formulae for cutting down tariffs in farm and industrial goods before the US presidential elections in October.

“My simple message here in Delhi and next week in Washington is that (members should) look carefully at what is on the table and not on results, listen to all WTO members and efforts should be to conclude the talks,” Mr Lamy said.

India, however, warned that for the talks to succeed, the focus has to be back on the concept of a development round. “If the basis of the round (Doha negotiations) has to see a change in its objectives, it would be a tough going for global trade integration,” Mr Nath said.

He added that revival of the weakest and not survival of the fittest should form the core of the negotiations for reaching an agreement.

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Developing nations to benefit from WTO: Lamy
Commodity Online, August 13, 2008

Pascal Lamy, Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO) has submitted detailed statistics on how developing countries could get a lion’s share of gains from scheduled commitments made at ministerial meeting in Geneva last month.

However, he admitted that differences remained between US and India on key issues. He was addressing a CUTS-FICCI conference on 'Global Partnership or Development: Where do we stand and where to go' here.

"I am disappointed but not discouraged," Mr Lamy, here on a two-day visit, said. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, on the other hand, maintained that there were still major issues to be sorted out and called upon developed countries to return to the negotiating table in a spirit of sacrifice to bolster the economies of the poor nations.

In what was the WTO chief's first interface with Indian industry after the stalled mini-Ministerial meeting, Mr Lamy said "If the current round had come to a successful conclusion last month, import tariffs would have come down by half, resulting in a saving of $150 billion. The developing countries would have contributed a third of the sacrifice, but benefited to the extent of two thirds by way of savings."

He, however, said although figures did not reveal which country would gain by how much, adherence to the scheduled commitments would have brought down trade distorting subsidies by the US to $14.5 billion a year "Without the current round, this amount could reach a whopping US$ 48 billion a year," he emphasised. Lamy said, while it is agreed that increase in agriculture productivity was vital in developing countries, it was important to note that trade could play a better role in bringing this about.

Refuting this, Mr Kamal Nath maintained that the Doha Round was not about increasing the prosperity of the developed world but reducing the poverty of the developing countries. "Unless this round sees healthy economies in the developing world, there would be no market access for the developed countries," he said. Because of subsidies given by the rich nations to their own farmers, there had been no investments in agriculture in the developing countries, he added.

On the issue of SSM for agriculture, Mr Kamal Nath said if the 40 per cent cap in import surge was accepted as proposed by the US, "by the time imports reach that level, my farmers would have committed suicide."

Later, at an interactive session with CEOs of Indian industry, Mr Lamy said his message to Indian officials and industry heads was three fold. Firstly, there was need to look carefully at what was on the table. Secondly, one needed to listen to all WTO members to make an effort to see the round was concluded.

Lastly, one needed to try and understand each other a bit more on the political level.

In this context, Kamal Nath agreed there was a lot on the table. "But what's on the table is not on my plate. And there is not enough on the table to put on everybody's plate."

Stating that 17 out of 20 items listed for negotiations at last month's failed talks at Geneva had been cleared, Mr Lamy said at the end of his day long talks with Indian officials and industry heads, differences remained between India and the US over special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to protect domestic agriculture from import surges.

With India being the first country the WTO chief was visiting to try and bridge the gaps for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round of talks, Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said India held the same position it did last month. "I have reiterated that the concerns of livelihood of farmers and the agriculture sector remain, not only for India but for 100 developing countries," the Minister underlined, agreeing that there was a need to find a solution. He requested Mr Lamy to convey India's concerns during his visit to the US next week

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Lamy picks up threads of failed Doha talks
Business Line, August 13, 2008

The World Trade Organisation Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday and is reported to have sought a clear signal on whether India wants to move ahead or take a pause in the ongoing trade liberalisation talks.

The Geneva talks failed on the issue of Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). Negotiations for a global agreement on industrial tariff cuts and reducing agricultural subsidies have dragged for seven years since the launch of the Doha Round in 2001.

Mr Lamy is on a visit to India to bridge differences mainly on the issue of SSM.

The mechanism has been designed to safeguard the farmers from abrupt import surge and price declines by permitting an additional safeguard duty over and above the bound rate.

“The members of WTO were disappointed at the collapse of the talks at Geneva but not discouraged. There is still a possibility to move forward and have a deal and my message in Delhi and Washington is that members should look carefully at what is on the table and not on results, listen to all WTO members and try to understand people at a political level to conclude the talks,” Mr Lamy said after an interaction with industry members at FICCI and CII.

Observing that the negotiations under the Doha round could be concluded early, he said the successful completion would annually bring down tariffs by $150 billion.

When asked if he saw the deal being concluded by next year, Mr Lamy said, “I am just an instrument. I am not in the debating business but running the business. It is the determination of the members which will drive a mandate.”

He, however, said if the round was not completed, trade distorting subsidies would rise to $48 billion annually. “What is on the table should remain on the table and not let it slip,” he said.

Mr Lamy will be visiting Washington next week.

He said while in purely technical terms the issues agreed upon by the negotiating members would be sufficient for drafting the scheduled commitments, the political reality gained the upper hand and a few issues need to be wrapped up, most significantly the issue of safeguards mechanism for agriculture.

The Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, doggedly maintained that the Doha Round is not about increasing the prosperity of the developed world but reducing the poverty of the developing countries.

“There were still major issues to be sorted out and called upon developed countries to return to the negotiating table in a spirit of sacrifice to bolster the economies of the poor nations.

“Unless this round sees healthy economies in the developing world, there would be no market access for the developed countries,” he said.

He added that the truth is that because of the subsidies given by the rich nations, there have been no investments in agriculture in the developing countries.

On the issue of SSM for agriculture, Mr Nath said if developing countries were to reduce tariff and if there is huge import surge, the remedy lay in capping the surge at 40 per cent.

He urged all WTO members to come to the negotiating table, not looking for what they can get but at what they can give.

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Lamy still hopeful on Doha Round
Business Standard, August 13, 2008

The stalled Doha Round of world trade talks can be concluded by the end of 2008, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy said here today. The WTO chief is on his first visit to the country after the failure of talks at a crucial mini-ministerial meeting on the Doha Round in Geneva last month.

“There is still a possibility to move the talks forward and conclude the negotiations within the end-2008 time frame which all WTO members have agreed since last year,” Lamy said at an interaction with members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The meet was also attended by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

Lamy said that WTO member nations have urged him to build on whatever progress was made at the recent Geneva ministerial.

The WTO chief also held bilateral meetings with Nath and government officials on issues related to the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), which is a norm that allows poor nations to increase duties in order to protect their economies from surging farm imports. Disagreements between India and the United States on this issue led to the failure of the Geneva mini-ministerial.

Nath reiterated India’s stand on SSM, saying the country’s position on WTO issues has not changed. “One of our prime concerns is livelihood security and there has to be a solution to address that. Moreover, interests of infant industry cannot be compromised,” he told reporters.

Earlier, speaking at the CUTS-Ficci conference on global development goals, Nath said: “If the basis of the Doha Round has to see a change in its very objectives, it would be a tough going for global trade integration.

Revival of the weakest and not survival of the fittest should form the core of the negotiations”.

Sources said that Lamy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to assess the political will in the Indian government towards concluding the Doha Round. He is also scheduled to hold talks with BJP leaders, including former commerce minister Arun Jaitley, as well as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

Lamy’s India visit is being seen as an attempt to push for a fresh ministerial by the end of this year. He will also visit the United States to hold discussions on WTO-related issues. “My simple message here in Delhi and next week in Washington is that WTO members should look carefully at what is on the table and not on the results,” he said.

Lamy said that while technically, the Doha Round negotiations are ready to be finalised, political concerns have gained an upper hand. “Of the 20 to-do lists in the mini-ministerial, 17 have been sorted out. On the issue related to SSMs, India and the US had major differences,” he added

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Nath, Lamy call for restarting WTO talks
Financial Express, August 13, 2008

In a renewed bid to conclude a global trade deal by this year-end, Indian commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath and World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy on Tuesday called for resumption of Doha Development Round negotiations of the WTO.

Nath, however, warned that any progress in the talks would be difficult unless “revival of the weakest (economies)” forms its core, instead of “survival of the fittest (economies).”

The move for restarting the talks comes a fortnight after it collapsed mainly due to differences between India and the US over safeguards to protect poor farmers in developing countries from import surges of agricultural products. However, India said the gains that the developing countries have gained in the talks so far should be retained.

Speaking at a conference organised by a consumer advocacy NGO, the Consumer Unity & Trust Society International, or CUTS and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), Nath said, “India is committed to the multilateral system but when we resume, I urge you to come to the table looking not for what you can get, but what you can give.”

He said it was important for a global trade deal to ensure healthy economies in developing countries. Among those who attended the conference were representatives from the US, the UK, Brazil, Japan, Canada and Uruguay.

He said it was harsh on the part of the rich nations to ask developing countries to give something in return for reducing their trade-distorting farm subsidies that had flawed the global trading system in the first place.

Speaking on the occasion, Lamy had said that if WTO fails to reach a deal, the US overall trade distorting subsidies could reach a whopping $48 billion dollars a year from the ceiling of $14.5 billion that the Bush administration had offered at the Geneva Mini-Ministerial Meeting. Lamy is here on a two-day visit to seek India’s help to re-start the talks. He said after the talks were suspended, several WTO Member countries have asked him to look at the possibilities of keeping the talks alive.

Later in the day, he held discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too. Lamy would be proceeding to the US, where he would hold talks with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

Lamy said while in purely technical terms, the issues agreed upon by the negotiating members would be sufficient for drafting the scheduled commitments, the political reality has gained the upper hand and most significant among the outstanding issues was the issue of special safeguards mechanism (SSM) for agriculture.

The SSM enables developing countries like India to hike agricultural tariffs to protect the livelihood of its hundreds of millions of poor farmers from import surges and price declines of sensitive farm products.

Lamy said if the Doha Round is concluded successfully, it can result in worldwide import tariffs being reduced by 50%, which in turn would result in savings of $150 billion a year in tariffs. Two-third of these tariff cuts would be expected from the rich nations. This means developing countries would benefit to that extent and gain more market access.

On SSM, Lamy said, there were two diverging views which proved impossible to reconcile in the talks last month—one, developing countries need a safety net against a surge in imports to protect their farming system; and two, like all safeguards under the WTO rules, SSM should be subject to certain conditions and limitations in order to ensure that it does not hamper normal trade flows and that it should not be misused. “That was the main political difference,” he said.

Nath said India could not have accepted a remedy against import surges with several strings attached. He said developed countries had already been using a similar mechanism for the last 14 years, Nath said.

He said India wanted a “reasonable figure (of SSM) and “it must have a reasonable remedy.” Nath said he was ready to negotiate “numbers”, he could “not negotiate attitude and mindset.”

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WTO talks will succeed if it strengthens the weakest: Kamal Nath
India News live, August 12, 2008

Talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will resume and will be successful if the negotiations focused less on survival of the fittest and more on strengthening the weakest, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said here Tuesday.

“We will see economic architecture not only dictated by World Trade Organisation (WTO) rounds but also technology and demographics… technology meaning broadband,” he said.

“This round is not about increasing prosperity but decreasing poverty, not survival of the fittest but revival of the weakest. If this is the fundamental of the round, it will certainly succeed in some way,” Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

The two-day conference - on global partnership for development - has been organised jointly by industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and non-governmental organisation Consumer Unity and Trust Society.

With WTO director general Pascal Lamy currently in India, the trade talks, which collapsed last month in Geneva over a proposal to help poor farmers cope with import surge, are expected to be revived.

“I have a simple message for Delhi and Washington. Look careful at what is on the table and listen to all WTO members to conclude the negotiations,” said Lamy, who was also at the conference.

“The good news is there is a possibility that we can still move forward and conclude the negotiations within the timeframe that all WTO members agreed, end of 2008,” he added.

Lamy said there are two diverging views on Special Safeguards Mechanisms (SSM) - a contingency restriction on imports taken temporarily to deal with special circumstances such as a sudden surge in imports - over which talks broke down last month.

Developing countries say they need a safety net against a surge in imports to protect their farming system.

The developed world led by the US says like all safeguards under the WTO rules, SSM should be subject to certain conditions and limitations in order to ensure that it does not hamper normal trade flows and is not misused.

During the Geneva talks, it was suggested that the safeguard mechanism in developing countries come into effect if a country’s imports surged by 40 percent.

But India and the other developing countries wanted this trigger to become active in case of a 10 percent volume surge.

“That was the main political difference,” Lamy said.

However, Kamal Nath said if developing countries were to reduce tariff and there was huge import surge, capping the surge at 40 percent was suicidal. “By the time imports reach that level, my farmers would have committed suicide,” he remarked.

While it is being acknowledged that agriculture subsidies by the developed nations are trade distorting and need to be brought down, the sacrifice being asked for from developing countries was harsh, he added.

Kamal Nath and Lamy will meet again Wednesday to discuss the deal.

The United Progressive Alliance government has expressed concern over market-opening clauses like anti-concentration and sectorals.

Sectors like automobile, auto components, textiles, marine products and chemicals in India were likely to be severely hurt if these clauses were included in the final agreement, as this would result in cheaper imports from developed nations.

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Kamal Nath firm on re-negotiation of farm safeguards mechanism
SME Times, August 12, 2008

Kamal Nath, Minister for Commerce and Industry, maintained that there were still major issues to be sorted out and called upon developed countries to return to the negotiating table in a spirit of sacrifice to bolster the economies of the poor nations made at the mini-Ministerial meeting in Geneva last month.

Even as Pascal Lamy, WTO Director General, has reeled out statistics on how the developing countries would get the lion’s share of gains from scheduled commitments.

Addressing the CUTS-FICCI Conference on ‘Global Partnership or Development: Where do we stand and where to go”, the WTO chief’s first interface with Indian industry after the stalled mini- Ministerial meeting, Lamy said, “If the current round had come to a successful conclusion last month, import tariffs would have come down by half, resulting in a saving of US$ 150 billion. The developing countries would have contributed a third of the sacrifice, but benefited to the extent of two thirds by way of savings.”

He, however, added that although figures did not reveal which country would gain by how much, what is transparent is that the adherence to the scheduled commitments would have brought down trade distorting subsidies by the US to US$ 14.5 billion a year “Without the current round, this amount could reach a whopping US$ 48 billion a year,” he emphasised.

Lamy said, while it is agreed that increase in agriculture productivity was vital in developing countries, it was important to note that trade could play a better role in bringing this about.

He said while in purely technical terms, the issues agreed upon by the negotiating members would be sufficient for drafting the scheduled commitments, the political reality gained the upper hand and a few issues remained to be wrapped up, most significantly the issue of safeguards mechanism for agriculture.

On Special Safeguards Mechanism (SSM), he said, there were two diverging views which proved impossible to reconcile in the talks last month – one, developing countries need a safety net against a surge in imports to protect their farming system; and two, like all safeguards under the WTO rules, SSM should be subject to certain conditions and limitations in order to ensure that it does not hamper normal trade flows and that it should not be misused. “That was the main political difference, he said.

Kamal Nath doggedly maintained that the Doha Round is not about increasing the prosperity of the developed world but reducing the poverty of the developing countries.

“Unless this round is sees healthy economies in the developing world, there would be no market access for the developed countries, he said, adding that the truth is that because of the subsidies given by the rich nations, there have been no investments in agriculture in the developing countries.

On the issue of SSM for agriculture, Kamal Nath said, if developing countries were to reduce tariff and if there is huge import surge, the remedy lay in capping the surge at 40%. “By the time imports reach that level, my farmers would have committed suicide,” he remarked.

While it is being appreciated that agriculture subsidies by the developed nations are trade distorting, and these needed to be brought down, the sacrifice being asked for from developing countries was harsh. “It tantamounts to asking the developing countries to pay to the rich nations to stop doing what they should not be doing in the first place,” Kamal Nath declared.

He urged all WTO members to come to the negotiating table, not looking for what they can get but at what they can give.

The conference was also addressed by Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General, UNCTAD; Ransford Smith, Deputy Secretary General, Commonwealth Secretariat; Rajan Bharti Mittal, Vice President, FICCI; Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International and Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI.

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WTO, India Push for Resumption of Global Trade Talks
Voa News, August 12, 2008

The head of the World Trade Organization is in India, before heading to the United States, in an effort to try to revive failed global trade talks. As VOA correspondent Steve Herman reports from New Delhi, Indian trade officials are giving no indication they will be the first to budge, saying emergency protection for their country's farmers is paramount.

The World Trade Organization's director general met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, other government leaders and top corporate executives. Pascal Lamy is trying to achieve what he admits will be a difficult goal: reviving, before the end of the year, the collapsed global trade talks.

Last month, ministerial talks failed in Geneva, after 16 out of 20 items being considered were resolved. India and the United States failed to find common ground on number 17, known as the "special safeguard mechanism." It would allow developing countries to impose emergency tariffs if they experienced an unexpected surge of agricultural imports

India Commerce Minister Kamal Nath says a too-high trigger for imposing the emergency tariffs is an unacceptable and fatal flaw.

"If you say 40 percent import surge, my farmers would have committed suicide by then," Nath said.

Agriculture is India's largest economic sector. But during a time of crop failures, falling prices for commodities, and lack of affordable credit, thousands of Indian farmers have reportedly committed suicide. The crisis has become politically sensitive in Indian agriculture.

During a joint appearances with Lamy in New Delhi, the commerce minister praised the WTO leader as a "great friend of India" who is "absolutely impartial."

Lamy, speaking to chief executives of some of India's biggest corporations, said he is expressing a common message to Indian and American government leaders.

"Try to understand each other a bit more, at the political level, because this is a political discussion that has to translate into a technical discussion, not the other way around," Lamy said.

Lamy heads to Washington next week for discussions with American trade officials.

During an earlier joint appearance with Lamy, the Indian trade minister told an audience of foreign ambassadors at a development conference that New Delhi is not opposed to a successful conclusion of the global trade talks, known as the Doha Round.

"I would like to really tell all the diplomats here to tell your capitals that India is committed to the multi-lateral system. We want to have this round," Nath said. "But when we resume, which we must resume, I would only urge all of you to come to the table not looking for what you can get, but for what you can give."

The talks began seven years ago with the goal of allowing developing countries to benefit from a more-open trading system. The WTO says if global import tariffs can be cut in half, the world would recognize a savings of $150 billion a year.

American trade officials have objected to the current proposals from India and other countries, saying they would limit market openings and actually raise new barriers to trade.

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India for fresh WTO talks if flaws are removed: Kamal Nath
The Hindu, August 12, 2008

India on Tuesday indicated to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) its readiness for another go at reaching a world trade agreement provided the flaws in multilateral rules are effectively addressed and removed.

“If the basis of the round [Doha negotiations initiated seven years ago] has to see a change in its very objectives, it would be a tough going for global trade integration,” Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said while sharing the dais with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy at a CUTS-FICCI organised conference on global development goals.

Responding to Mr. Lamy’s remarks, Mr. Nath unequivocally declared that “revival of the weakest” and “not survival of the fittest” should form the core of the negotiations for reaching an agreement.

Otherwise, he warned that the renewed attempt being made by Mr. Lamy and others to bring the talks back on track could meet the fate of the recently abandoned talks in Geneva.

While India, he said, was keen on resumption of multilateral negotiations, “it cannot be expected to accept the flaws — the price developing countries are being asked to pay for developed countries to cut subsidies,” he said.

Later in the day, Mr. Lamy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He is understood to have sought a clear indication whether India wanted to move ahead in the troubled Doha negotiations or take a pause.

The meeting was significant as the WTO chief has renewed efforts to bridge differences, mainly on the issue of the safeguard for agriculture in the developing countries, between India and the U.S. following the failure of the Geneva talks a fortnight ago on the issue, known as the Special Safeguard Mechanism in WTO parlance.

“My simple message here in Delhi and next week in Washington is that (members should) look carefully at what is on the table and not on results, listen to all WTO members and efforts should be to conclude the talks,” Mr. Lamy had said earlier.

After getting the feedback from New Delhi based on consultations with the Prime Minister and the Commerce Minister, industry and the NGOs, Mr. Lamy will visit Washington next week.

Mr. Lamy said after his meetings with Dr. Singh and Mr. Nath: “The good news is there may be still a possibility to move this forward and conclude negotiations within the time-frame, that is end-2008.”

Speaking at the CUTS-FICCI meet, Mr. Lamy had observed that if the WTO could not reach a deal, the U.S. agricultural trade distorting subsidies could see a sharp jump to over $48 billion a year from a ceiling of $14.5 billion, which the Bush administration had offered at the Geneva Mini-Ministerial Meeting.

If the Round was not to conclude, “the U.S. will be able to spend much more (on subsidies),” Mr. Lamy said.

The WTO chief, who is India within two weeks of the collapse of Geneva talks to seek India’s help for reviving the negotiations, said the success of the Doha Round could result in worldwide duty cuts of $150 billion a year.

Further, he said, two-third of these cuts would be expected from the rich nations. In other words, this would be the level of market access for the developing countries.

Mr. Lamy, however, acknowledged that the current food crisis is also a result of the lack of investment in the developing countries. “One of the reasons for decline in production is the trade distorting subsidies and high tariffs in the rich countries,” he added.

Mr. Nath also underlined that the devil lies in the details of the proposals being put on the negotiating table.

“If the EU says we are going to reduce tariffs for airplanes, what does it mean for India and Africa,” he asked during the interaction attended among others by several diplomats from Africa.

Signalling to the American negotiators that India would fully leverage the issue of high cotton subsidies in the negotiations, Mr. Nath said: “I want to import cotton from Africa. But if there is 40 per cent subsidy in the U.S., my industry is not going to buy it from Africa.”

Significantly, Mr. Nath received support from the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Supachai Panitchpakdi, who said, “I would have thought cotton would have become a goodwill case...cotton must be tackled seriously.” Dwelling on the reasons for failure of the negotiations between 30 trade ministers, Mr. Nath said India could not have accepted a remedy against import surges with several strings attached.

Differences over the level of Special Safeguard Mechanism between the U.S. and India proved to be a deal-breaker in Geneva, he said.

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Lamy seeks India's support for next move on Doha
The Hindu, August 12, 2008

Within a fortnight of the collapse of trade talks in Geneva, a die-hard optimist WTO chief today sought clear "political" signal from the Indian leadership whether New Delhi will support the renewed attempts to wrap up a Doha deal by year-end.

After exuding confidence that there was still a possibility to reach a market opening and subsidy cut agreement among 153 nations, World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Lamy sought a political message from the Prime Minister whether India wants to keep working or take time out," a source close to WTO Director General said.

Lamy would be visiting Washington next week to assess the political mood in the US administration as well. "My simple message here in Delhi and next week in Washington is that (members should) look carefully at what is on the table and not on results," he said at a CII meeting.

Earlier in the day, sharing a FICCI-CUTS platform with Lamy, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said India is ready for another go at reaching an agreement, if flaws which work in favour of the developed nations are removed.

"India is committed to the round," Nath said adding the industrialised nations have to come to the negotiations not with a mindset of "what you can get, but what you can give".

However, if the principles of discussions have to change keeping in view the interest of the rich nations, "it would be a tough going" he said.

The two also held one-to-one meeting and discussed how to pick up threads again. "The good news is there may be still a possibility to move this forward and conclude negotiations within the time-frame, that is end-2008," Lamy said.

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WTO and India call for resumption of stalled global trade talks
Canadian Business, August 12, 2008

The head of the World Trade Organization and India's commerce minister called Tuesday for the resumption of global trade talks that stalled last month in Geneva.

"India is committed to the multilateral system but when we resume, I urge you to come to the table looking not for what you can get, but what you can give," said Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, singling out foreign diplomats who had gathered to hear him speak at a trade conference in New Delhi.

Representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Japan, and Uruguay, among other countries, were on hand.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said that after trade talks stalled July 29, WTO member states had urged him to push ahead. "Don't throw in the towel. Please reserve what's on the table. We have never been so close," they said, he recalled.

"Two days after a failure such unanimous view was and remains surprising," he added.

Lamy and Nath were speaking at a trade conference organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, or FICCI, a business group, and the Consumer Unity & Trust Society International, or CUTS, a non-governmental consumer advocacy group.

They did not lay out any time frame for kick-starting the so-called Doha round, which began in 2001 with the goal of helping emerging economies benefit from freer trade.

Talks foundered last month because India, China and the U.S. failed to reach an accord on emergency agricultural tariffs, which would protect developing markets from sudden surges of imported farm products.

Lamy said that if the talks had been successful, the sum of global import tariffs would have been slashed by half, a savings of $150 billion a year. Developing countries would have contributed one-third of that savings and reaped two-thirds of the rewards, he said.

Washington would have been required to cap trade-distorting subsidies, which could surge to $48 billion a year, at $14.5 billion a year, he said.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab will also meet with Lamy, her spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said by e-mail from Washington.

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WTO Chief Lamy to meet Indian PM today
PR-inside, August 12, 2008

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy will meet PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, he is here to get overall India's views on the options before the International trade body to bring the beleaguered Doha Round of trade talks to logical conclusions.

Pascal Lamy's two-day visit to New Delhi beginning on Tuesday will give him an opportunity for discussions with Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, as well as representatives of the industry, sources said.

'Few would contest the benefits that globalization and trade have brought in terms of greater prosperity for hundreds of millions, as well as greater stability among nations. But many individuals in different societies across the world have shared little or not all in the benefits. The challenges facing governments in managing globalization are formidable, and success in spreading prosperity more widely requires a strong common purpose' says WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy

The WTO Chief's visit is likely to be followed by one to the US where he would meet trade officials and try to bring them on board for maintaining the momentum to conclude the Doha trade talks that was launched in 2001.

His visit comes days after the WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva collapsed on the issue of safeguard for farmers from the developing countries against import surges.

The disagreement in the Geneva meeting was mainly between the US on the one side and India and China on the other and India projecting the interest of its agrarian interest.

India view

India said, besides China, over 100 developing and least developed countries were backing the cause of poor farmers.

Commerce and Industries Minister Kamal Nath expressed dissatisfaction over the collapse of the talks."I feel disappointed that this has to be the end result. We have been running the miles for the last three years"It is unfortunate that in a development round we could not move because of the issue of livelihood security. G 33 and the developing countries are concerned about the issues which affect the poor and subsistence farmers," he told reporters before going to the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) meeting."My confidence in the institution of WTO remains intact. All work that has been put in will remain intact and we will take this up and move forward," he said.The blame game started on expected lines. US blamed India and China for creating hurdles in the ongoing WTO talks in Geneva and said Doha trade talks have been thrown into the "gravest jeopardy" by these two countries which are not willing to open their markets for more imports.

China view

China media reports that trade officials said in Geneva yesterday that a high-level summit to salvage a global trade pact collapsed, after the United States, China and India failed to agree on farm import rules.Trade officials from two developed and one emerging economy said that a meeting of seven commercial powers broke up without agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO) yesterday.

The officials said a US dispute with China and India over farm import safeguards had effectively ended any hope of a breakthrough.

When in India, Lamy would be participating in a two-day international conference on 'Global Partnership for Development' being jointly organised here by think-tank CUTS International and industry body FICCI

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WTO chief Pascal Lamy to meet PM Manmohan Singh today
Business Standard, August 12, 2008

WTO chief Pascal Lamy who is in India is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today evening. Sources said, he is also scheduled to have bilateral meeting with Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and other government officials on the issue related to Doha round of world trade talks.

Sources also added that Lamy will also be meeting BJP leader Arun Jaitely. Observers say that this is Lamy's attempt to gauge the political situation in India as the country is likely to go to election very soon.

This is in the backdrop of a failed WTO ministerial on Doha round of world trade talks. Observers also see Lamy's latest moves as a preparation for another WTO ministerial by September this year.

Lamy is in two day visit to India where he is attending a conference on multilateral trade talks organised by Ficci and CUTS.

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WTO chief Lamy visiting India to try to revive trade talks
Economic Times, August 11, 2008

Pascal Lamy, World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general, will visit India on Tuesday in an attempt to revive the mini-ministerial trade talks that collapsed last month in Geneva.

Lamy is expected to try and get India agree on a to open up markets in industrial and agricultural goods as well as services.

The WTO chief will be here Tuesday and Wednesday and is expected to meet Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, according to a schedule put out at the WTO website.

Lamy will also attend a conference on "Global Partnership for Development: Where do we stand and where to go", a statement from industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) said here on Monday.

The two-day international conference is being jointly organised by Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) and Ficci.

After the India visit, Lamy is scheduled to visit the United States and the European Union (EU) to urge them to work towards closing a deal in agriculture and industrial goods as well as services.

The Geneva meeting failed as the US and India could not agree on some key details of the special safeguards mechanism (SSM) to protect poor farmers against a surge in imports.

Kamal Nath later told the media that more than 100 other developing countries had supported India's stand on the SSM at the Geneva talks.

At the talks, the US maintained that imports needed to increase by at least 40 percent over the average imports in the previous three years before developing countries could be allowed to increase duties over the levels committed in the previous Round.

India and the developing countries including China said this trigger was too high to be acceptable. They wanted the trigger to be fixed at 10 percent.

"We were willing to accept even a 15 per cent trigger," Kamal Nath had told reporters after the failure of the talks adding "by the time imports surged by 40 per cent, small farmers would begin to commit suicide. This was unacceptable to us."

Kamal Nath had, however, indicated that India was keen to go back to the table. Lamy's visit is part of an attempt to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

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WTO Chief Pascal Lamy to visit India this week
Live Mint, August 10, 2008

The WTO chief would be in India on August 12 and 13 and is expected to meet Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath as well as representatives of the industry

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy is visiting India this week and will hold discussions with the government and industry to find ways for picking up the threads from last month’s failed trade talks in Geneva.

The WTO chief would be in India on August 12 and 13 and is expected to meet Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath as well as representatives of the industry.

Lamy’s India visit is likely to be followed by one to the US where he would meet trade officials and try to bring them on board for maintaining the momentum to conclude the Doha trade talks.

Lamy’s visit comes days after the WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva collapsed on the issue of safeguard for farmers from the developing countries against import surges. The stand-off in the Geneva meeting was mainly between the US on the one side and India and China on the other.

India had later said, besides China, over 100 developing and least developed countries were backing the cause of poor farmers.

While in India, Lamy would be participating in a two-day international conference on ‘Global Partnership for Development’ being jointly organised here by think-tank CUTS International and industry body FICCI.

“This event has assumed greater significance because it is a first major global gathering being held immediately after the recent collapse of trade talks in Geneva,” CUTS International Secretary General Pradeep Mehta said.

The only name the official mentioned from the private sector was that of Pradeep S. Mehta, director general at CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition, an independent agency that operates in the area of consumer protection. Mehta was not available for comment. However, his office confirmed that he has applied for a post at CCI.

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Multilateral talks never fail
Economic Times, August 09, 2008

By Pradeep S Mehta

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Indo-Pak trade: Cutting the Gordian knot
Economic Times, August 06, 2008

By Pradeep S Mehta & Siddhartha Mitra

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US to be blamed for failed WTO talks: Expert
Business Line, August 05,2008

The United States is to be solely blamed for the flopped WTO mini-Ministerial talks as it was not ready to “sew up a deal” in view of the impending presidential elections and it is unlikely that the Doha Development Round will conclude before 201 1-12, a trade expert said today.

“The US was not ready to sew up a deal because of a lame duck President who does not have a fast-track authority and I, therefore, expect the WTO talks to begin in full earnest in mid-2009 when there is a new US administration,” said the trade expert Mr. Pradeep S Mehta.

“The flopped Geneva meeting has, however, removed the envelope. Thus, I feel that it did achieve some progress so that the glass is half full and not half empty,”' he said.

Expecting the Doha Development Talk to conclude sometime in 2011-12 Mr Mehta said, “It was just not possible to finish it now.”

The Doha Round is meant to deepen commitments already made in the Uruguay Round of negotiations and make the global trading system more development friendly. “Thus, it needs much more time as it involves greater depth and many more concessions from rich countries like US and EU and advanced developing countries like India and China,” he said.

“The collapse of WTO talks augurs well for India as it could not afford a deal at the moment because of ensuing elections,” he said. - PTI

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`I remain convinced we can find a compromise`
Business Standard, August 05,2008

By Sidhartha

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Africa: Countries Should Bolster Efforts to Reform Their Trade Regimes
www.AllAfrica.com, August 04, 2008

Ways to strengthen cooperation amongst world economies so that the poorest and most vulnerable countries can take part effectively in global trade will be a key matter of discussion at a forthcoming conference in New Delhi, India.

Trade and finance ministers, trade negotiators, academics and representatives from businesses and civil society organisations across the world will meet 11-13 August 2008 at an event which is being co-hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with, amongst others, CUTS-International, a leading civil society organisation based in South Asia.

Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN's Conference on Trade and Development, Isabel Guerrero, Country Director for the World Bank's India office, and Ransford Smith Commonwealth Deputy-Secretary General are among those taking part in discussions.

The conference's main focus is the need to 'develop a global partnership for development' which is the eighth Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

"If this MDG is to be achieved then wealthy countries must reform their trade regimes and facilitate the participation of poor and small vulnerable countries in the international trading system to improve their development prospects," says Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General, Ransford Smith.

"By bringing together a broad cross section of stakeholders at an open dialogue and free-frank exchange of views, we hope to re-energise the global debate."

This conference has been organised in the backdrop of a stalled WTO Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations as well as slow progress in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations involving African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union.

"Developed countries had committed to helping poorer developing countries fulfil the MDGs, which went beyond Doha and EPA negotiations. We should also remember that MDG 8 on partnership for development goes beyond trade negotiations," Mr Smith added.

At the meeting, which will be attended more than 150 international participants, the challenges faced by least developed countries and small vulnerable economies in the international trading system and their implications for their development objectives will be given special emphasis and the conference is expected to come up with useful recommendations.

The International Trade and Regional Cooperation Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat earlier commissioned a comprehensive study in this regard, which will be presented as the theme paper of the conference.

The conference will also review issues related to aid for trade, services trade, development cooperation, and mainstreaming development in multilateral trade negotiations.

"It is vital," says Pradeep Mehta, Secretary General of CUTS International, "to find out alternative means for forging a better partnership for development between the rich and poor nations on trade and regulatory issues given the recent collapse of WTO talks in Geneva and to get the importance of international trade for a country's growth back into the radar screens of the international policy community."

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