Indian industry calls for global fund to meet WTO obligations

The Indian industry Sunday called for a WTO agreement on mandatory global funding to meet extra costs incurred by poor and developing countries for meeting obligations they undertake at its forthcoming Bali meeting. "Industry is of the view that there is a need for the WTO agreement to set up a mandatory global funding mechanism that will meet additional costs for developing or least developed countries (LDCs) for meeting obligations they undertake at Bali," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said here in a statement.

It said: "Additional costs, if any, for developing countries, for creating infrastructure to meet additional commitments under the agreement should not lead to higher usage costs for the private sector." The 9th ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization is scheduled to be held in Bali, Indonesia, Dec 3-6, in which all 159 member countries of the WTO are expected to participate. "Specifically, it (Indian industry) supports a good trade facilitation agreement that can cut transaction costs and help make industry more competitive," CII added.

The broad areas figuring in the agenda of the conference include trade facilitation, agriculture negotiations and development issues relating to the LDCs.

India will not offer any compromise on its food subsidy programme at the WTO ministerial meeting, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said last week.

Several WTO member countries from the developed world fear that owing to India's ambitious social security programme introduced earlier this year, its agriculture subsidy would breach the 10 percent cap under WTO agreements.