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PRESS RELEASE –
MARCH 2007
Press
Releases Archive...
Saving Doha WTO
Seminar Evokes Farmers Protests
New Delhi, India, March 12, 2007
An
International seminar organized by the
Commerce Ministry of India under the banner of
'Saving Doha and Delivering on Development'
evoked protests from several groups including
farmers, students unions and civil society
organisations. As ministers, corporate
lobbyists, academicians and bureaucrats met in
the expensive Maurya Sheraton hotel in New
Delhi, hundreds of activists congregated
outside the hotel demanding their voices be
heard. Reports indicate that 200 activists
have been arrested and detained at the nearby
Chanakya Puri police station. Those arrested
include activists from the Bharatiya Kisan
Union, Housing Rights Association, Peoples
Campaign for Justice and Sovereignty, Youth
for Justice and Slum Dwellers Association. The
meeting was co-organised along with groups
such as UNCTAD, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, Oxfam International,
National Council for Applied Economic Research
and CUTS International. The intention was to
identify the key parameters to serve the so
called 'development imperatives' of the Doha
Round.
Time is not on our side. The credibility of
the WTO is at stake and India is a key player
to breaking the deadlock, said WTO Director
General Pascal Lamy. WTO talks commenced in
February 2007 after the July 2006 collapse.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath in his opening
address stated that India will not be party to
an outcome that sustained prosperity in the
developed countries at the cost of livelihoods
of its farmers. 'A one size fits all approach
was not acceptable and we need a genuine
development outcome from the talks, he argued.
'This is empty rhetoric. A development outcome
that meets the needs of small and marginal
farmers is impossible within the WTO
framework. Studies by the World Bank and
Carnegie Foundation show that there are no or
minimal gains to developing countries from the
conclusion of the Doha Round, said Devinder
Sharma from the New Delhi based Forum for Bio
Technology and Food Security. These studies
indicate that per year gains for all 110
developing countries in the WTO would amount
to a total of only 35,000 crore rupees. The
insignificance of this amount is evident by
the fact that India's Rural Development
Ministry has a budget of 65,000 crore rupees a
year. 'This meeting has completely ignored
farmers groups in the country', said Yudvir
Singh of the Bahratiya Kisan Union, speaking
from the police station where he was detained
by the Delhi police. 'Pascal Lamy, corporate
lobbyists and Commerce Ministry officials are
sitting together to sell out Indian
agriculture', said Singh. |
