India-Argentina discusses current status of Doha round
12 Jun '08
4 min read
The Argentine Secretary of Trade and International Economic Relations, Ambassador Alfredo Chiaradía, met the Indian Commerce Secretary, Mr. Gopal Pillai in Buenos Aires on June 9 and 10th and discussed about the agenda and analysed the current status of the Doha Round multilateral trade negotiations.
Both Secretaries agreed on the importance of concluding the multilateral negotiations as soon as possible in line with the Doha Development Mandate and to liberalize and expand trade, particularly in goods and services of special interest to developing country members.
Both agreed that an early conclusion of the Doha Development Round would also reinforce the multilateral trading system. In order to reach this goal, they underlined the need to correct the current imbalances observed in the negotiating text, particularly in the key areas of agricultural and non-agricultural goods (NAMA) and noted the key role played by the G-20 and the NAMA-11 groups of developing countries of which both India and Argentina are members.
As regards agriculture, both sides agreed that a substantial reduction in the overall trade distorting subsidies (OTDS) should be achieved so as to eliminate the possibility available to developed country members, specially the United States and the European Union, of increasing currently applied support levels.
At the same time, it should be ensured that the green box payments are budget neutral and that no distorting subsidies are transferred to the green box. Regarding market access, both sides stated that the linear percentage of a minimum 54 percent of average tariff cut proposed for developed countries in the chairman's text should be respected as also the granting of a significant expansion of tariff rate quotas for sensitive products, which should be transparent and explicit.
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