Press Trust of India
Nairobi, Dec 19: India Saturday expressed its “thorough” disappointment over non-reaffirmation to conclude 14-year-old Doha Round pacts, even as the five-day WTO meeting here managed to win a commitment to allow developing nations to use special safeguards to protect farmers against import surges. After hectic negotiations for five consecutive days here– exceeding the scheduled closing by almost 24 hours – the WTO Trade Ministers concluded their talks this evening without any commitment on rich countries being asked to check their domestic subsidies.
According to the draft decision on cotton, the members decided to phase out export subsidies for developed nations immediately, while it has been marked for developing countries not later January 1, 2017. On the decision agreed on the phasing out of the export subsidies, Sitharaman said in some paragraphs, the “developed members” word has been replaced with “inclusive of developing countries” which is also “not acceptable”.
As per the draft ministerial decision, the WTO members reaffirm their commitment, pursuant to the 2013 Bali Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition, to exercise utmost restraint with regard to any recourse to all forms of export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect.
