NGO asks India, others not to yield to rich nations at WTO

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GENEVA, July 24 (PTI): Asking India not to succumb to the pressure of developed countries, particularly the US and EU, at the Doha Round of trade talks here, a leading NGO has dubbed the give and take in WTO texts as "unfair" and "unequal".

"The developed countries will put pressure on developing countries like India and Brazil to yield to their demands or else be blamed for the failure of the talks. But, the latest draft texts in agriculture and NAMA modalities show that the 'rate of exchange'(give and take) is still unequal," Martin Khor, the Director of Third World Network, an NGO representing developing countries, said.

"The agriculture text proposes that the US reduces its trade distorting subsidies to a range of USD 13 to 16.4 billion. The US had indicated that it could consider the upper part of that range which is close to USD 17 billion it had already offered in Potsdam," Khor said.

Khor further said that even if it (US) offers the lowest number in the range, this is still significantly higher than the reported USD 7 billion of its actual overall trade distorting subsidies in 2007.

On industrial goods, developing countries, led by India and Brazil, want "more unrestricted use of flexibility in NAMA tariff reduction" which the developed nations seek to restrict through the 'anti-concentration' clause.

Third World Network is a leading non-government organisation of South-East Asia and they are here as an observer in the ongoing WTO trade talks.