- At the World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council meeting in Geneva India has said that:
- Adoption of Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) be postponed till a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security is established.
- Failure of WTO to work meaningfully and deliver on the mandate of the “Doha Development Round” will cast serious aspersions over its credibility.
- A permanent solution has to be found for India’s minimum support prices to farmers against the WTO subsidy caps that are benchmarked to food prices of the 1980s.
- India proposed modifications of the Protocol including:
- December 31, 2014 as the deadline for finding a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security.
- Establishment of an institutional mechanism such as a dedicated Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture.
- Adoption of clear-cut procedures, timelines and outcomes under this institutional mechanism to arrive at the permanent solution by the deadline.
- A similar approach on all other elements of the Least Developed Countries.
- While developing countries were reassured by the renewed affirmation of commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and its development dimension, the expectations have been not met with due to the lack of progress on some of the Bali outcomes and minimal movement on the others.
- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/india-ties-tfa-to-deal-on-food-subsidies/article6250946.ece