Lok Sabha Question No. 2269 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-01-01
Subject: WTO Meeting
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: ASADUDDIN OWAISI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2269 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01 st  JANUARY,2018

## WTO MEETING

## 2269.  SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वा ͨणÏय एवं उɮयोग मंğी ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  World  Trade  Organization(WTO)  with  nearly  164  countries  was conceived  with  an  aim  to  reduce  trade  barriers,  resolve  disputes  among  member countries;
- (b) if so, whether a meeting of WTO was recently held in Buenos Aires to discuss the issues and if so, the details thereof and main issues discussed in the meetings;
- (c) whether WTO is facing major confrontation between the developed and developing countries on many issues including on agricultural subsidy, products for trade and ecommerce and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether these issues also came up for discussion and future roadmap chalked out in the meeting; and
- (e) if so, the details and the outcome thereof along with the concern expressed by India in the meeting in regard to trade on agricultural products, restrictions and subsidy?

## ANSWER

okf.kT; ,oa m|ksx ea=ky; esa jkT; ea=h ¼Jh lh- vkj- pkS/kjh½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

- a) The preamble of Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO), inter-alia recognizes reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade as one of its objectives.  Resolving trade disputes, arising when any member violates an agreement  or  a  commitment  made  by  it  in  the  WTO,  is  also  one  of  the  core activities of the WTO.
- b) and c):  The  Eleventh Ministerial Conference of the WTO ('MC11') was held in Buenos  Aires,  Argentina  from  10  to  13  December  2017.      A  number  of  issues including  a  permanent  solution  on  the  issue  of  public  stockholding  for  food security  purposes  and  other  agriculture  issues,  domestic  regulations  in  services, disciplines on fisheries subsidies, E-commerce, Investment Facilitation and Micro, Medium  and  Small  Enterprises  (MSMEs)  etc.  came  up  for  discussions  in  the

meeting.  However, no  consensus could  be  reached  on outcomes  on  many  of  the issues.  India  and  other  developing  countries  wanted  outcomes  on  the  issue  of public stockholding for food security purposes and other agricultural issues, while preserving the special and differential treatment for developing countries. Some of the developed countries, however were not agreeable to the proposed flexibilities to the developing countries.They wished to advance issues concerning ecommerce, MSME, investment facilitation  etc.  India  and  some  other  developing countries were of the view that these new issues do not have negotiating mandate and, therefore cannot be part of any outcome in MC11.

(d)to(e): Ministerial decisions that were taken during the MC11 include a Work Programme on  disciplines  on  Fisheries  Subsidies  with  a  view  to  arriving  at  a  decision  by  the  Twelfth negotiating mandate of the existing Work Programme on E-commerce, as proposed by India.

Ministerial Conference of the WTO, in 2019. It was also decided to continue with the nonAs  was  done  in  previous  Ministerial  Conferences,  an  existing  moratorium  on  imposing customs duties on electronic transmission was extended for two years along with another moratorium on TRIPS non-violation complaints, which, inter alia , prevents 'ever-greening' of patents  in  the pharmaceuticals  sector,  thereby  ensuring  accessibility  and  affordability  of generic medicines.

Ministerial Decisions on new issues like Investment Facilitation, MSMEs, gender and trade, which lacked a mandate or consensus, were not taken forward.

In  the  meeting,  India  made  efforts  to  obtain  a  permanent  solution  to  the  issue  of  public stockholding for food security purposes.On the issue of Agricultural Domestic Support,India was of the view that the WTO Agreement on Agriculture provides considerable flexibility to the  developed  members  to  provide  huge  subsidies  and  further,  to  concentrate  these subsidies  on  a  few  products.  This  asymmetry  needs  to  be  addressed  as  a  first  step  in agricultural  reform  without,  however,  shifting  the  burden  of  reduction  of  agricultural subsidies to developing countries.

***