US seeks India's backing in WTO agriculture talks

NEW DELHI: The United States has sought the backing of India in the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on agriculture to press for reduction in production subsidies, export subsidies and import tariffs.

Efforts are also on to support each other on similar areas of mutual interest, Mr E Ashley Wills, Assistant USTR (United States Trade Representative) looking after south Asia, said.

Expressing the hope that the current round of talks would end in success, to the satisfaction of a number of member-nations, he said liberalisation of trade in farm goods would be a key factor.

The US was also confident of success in clinching more market access for non-agriculture products. There is more benefit in liberalisation rather than blocking it, Mr Will said while speaking to mediapersons here.

Let us use this opportunity to open up markets in a way never achieved before, the Assistant USTR said. He felt that the pessimism over positive progress at the forthcoming WTO ministerial meeting at Cancun was misplaced. The Doha round being development round, he felt, the objective should be to see how the international system could be used to catalyse development. The US officials met commerce & industry minister Arun Jaitley to discuss WTO-related issues.

Wills also called for further improvement in India’s investment climate so that more foreign direct investment (FDI) could flow in. Significant progress has been made since early 1990s but still there is scope for improvement, he added.

On the issue of side-stepping patents to address public health concerns, Mr Wills said US pharma companies wants safeguards to ensure that their intellectual property rights are not exploited for commercial purposes. Drugs produced under compulsory licence to assist people hit by epidemics should not be diverted to other markets. US pharma companies also want rules to bring violations to the notice of WTO.

It is not correct to criticise the US as ‘heartless’, insensitive to the critical need of the poorest people of the world, Mr Wills said. There is no question over the need to make affordable medicine available to the poor but the US companies do not want their intellectual property to be misused.

Hundreds of pharma patents held by US companies are the property of these multinational corporations and critical to the US economy, he added. Mr Wills said the US was attaching significant importance to south Asia and will seek further increase in bilateral trade with this region. He was of the opinion that regional trading arrangements will emerge as a key factor promoting trade and investment.

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 06, 2003 06:28:03 AM ]