Making a strong pitch for development, Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry stated that the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations should not perpetuate the inequities of global trade.
The ambition of developed countries cannot and must not trample on the aspirations of four-fifths of humanity, he said.
In his address at the Plenary Session of the 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Hong Kong (HK) this afternoon, he said: “In the name of completion, if the content of this round only perpetuates the inequities of global trade, then it will be no round."
"To redeem the pledge we made at Doha, let us resolve to make this a round for those who need it. Let us make this a round that truly reflects the development dimension in its most beneficial and most effective sense”.
He said that the Doha mandate was to correct the “development deficit” left by the Uruguay Round and pointed out that negotiations in Hong Kong will have failed if they do not contribute towards creating a rule-based, world order, which not only makes trade free, but also make trade fair.
He indicated that there would not be any agricultural agreement without Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism which were needed to ensure the livelihood and food security of millions of farmers and if effectively applied, could be the bedrock of any agricultural outcome of the current Doha round.
Stressing that agriculture was the structurally most flawed sector of international trade, Mr. Kamal Nath reminded the world trade body that it was in agriculture that the development outcome of Doha would be most critically judged.
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