Times of India | Sept. 13, 2003
MEXICO: Mounting political pressure did not deter developing countries like India, Brazil and China to budge from their demand for a commitment from EU and US for phased elimination of domestic support and export subsidies in agriculture. Due to this the formulation of revised draft on this crucial issue has been delayed until Sunday.
Facilitator on the key agriculture negotiations, Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo will finalise the draft only by Sunday, as the attempts of EU and US to break the formidable group of 22 developing countries led by India, Brazil and China failed today.
Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said the alliance building by them "to protect the interests of millions of farmers in our countries" has forced the facilitator to consider addressing developing countries trade concerns.
"One of our objective is development, which is to improve the lot of farmers. Our agriculture produce cannot be sold in world market because it can't compete with subsidised agriculture in the developed countries, threatening the livelihood of 650 millon people depended on agriculture in India," Jaitley said giving the rationale behind why developing countries were demanding elimination of domestic support and export subsidies in industrialised nations.
Therefore, the entire approach of G-22 is to protect the interest of 50 per cent of the world population and 65 per cent of world farmers, who were living in our countries, he said.
Jaitley further added "We have the rationale of fair trade on our side and the question is not whether our stance is right or wrong."Times of India:
