India right candidate for differential treatment by WTO: Suresh Prabhu

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 12

Emphasising India as a legitimate candidate for seeking special and differential treatment for developing countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu today said the discourse should be on development at the WTO and not to be deflected based on aggregate GDP figures.

In remarks aimed at India, China and other major developing countries, the US had raised the issue of “countries bypassing rules in the name of self-proclaimed development status” at the WTO ministerial conference being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The conference is being attended by trade ministers of 164 countries.

He said “WTO members should re-endorse the centrality of development in WTO negotiations, without introducing differentiation among developing countries.”

Prabhu said the discourse should be on development at the WTO and not to be deflected based on aggregate GDP figures. “While in India we are proud of our GDP and growth rates of recent years, propelled by innovative economic policies of my government, we cannot ignore that India is home to more than 600 million poor people. Therefore, we are legitimate demandeurs for special and differential treatment for developing countries”, he added.

Laying the blame at the door of the developed countries who earlier took benefits, Prabhu said, “It is also noteworthy that many developed countries of today have benefitted from long periods of derogation from GATT rules in the area of agriculture and textiles”.

He said the WTO ministerial conference is being held against the backdrop of rising anti-globalisation and challenges to the multilateral trading system. “India is a strong supporter of the multilateral system, and we are extremely concerned at this situation”, he said.