Lok Sabha Question No. 1252 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-02
Subject: India's Stand at WTO Meet
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN, B. SREERAMULU, R. VANAROJA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1252 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02 nd  MAY, 2016

## INDIA'S STAND AT WTO MEET

## 1252. SHRI A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN: SHRI B. SRIRAMULU: SHRIMATI VANAROJA R.:

COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वािणÏय एवं उɮयोग मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has approved India's stand at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Conference held in Nairobi on food security and farm exports and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether India has been able to protect the interests of farmers in the WTO summit and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether India has secured a reaffirmative ministerial decision on the public stockholding issue and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether India is seeking for a special safeguard mechanism proposal to be taken up on a high priority basis and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

okf.kT; ,oa m|ksx jkT; ea=h ¼Jherh fueZyk lhrkje.k½ ¼Lora= izHkkj½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) (SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

- (a) Yes. The Government has approved India's stand in the Ministerial Conference
- of  the  World  Trade  Organization  (WTO)  held  in  Nairobi  in  December  2015, including  the  issues  of  food  security  and  agricultural  export  competition.  As proposed and approved, India had pursued the following agricultural issues at the  Ministerial  Conference:    an  agricultural  Special  Safeguard  Mechanism,  a permanent  solution  for  public  stockholding  for  food  security  purposes  and  a longer phase-out period for developing countries for certain kinds of agricultural export subsidies.
- (b) Given  the  importance  of  public  stockholding  for  food  security  purposes  for India's food and livelihood security and the necessity for an agricultural Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), India worked actively for Ministerial Decisions on  these  issues.    The  elimination  of  export  subsidies  by  developed  countries will  provide  a  level  playing  field  to  the  farmers  in  developing  countries. Through  these  decisions,  India  has  been  able  to  protect  the  interests  of  its farmers in the multilateral trade negotiations.
- (c) The  Ministerial  decision  on  public  stockholding  for  food  security  purposes includes  commits  WTO  members  to  engage  constructively  in  finding  a permanent  solution  to  the  issue  of  public  stockholding  for  food  security purposes. The effects of this decision, read with the Bali Ministerial Decision of December  2013  and  the  General  Council  Decision  of  27  November  2014, translates  into  a  commitment  by  the  WTO  members  to  agree  on  and  adopt  a permanent  solution  by  the  Eleventh  Ministerial  Conference  of  the  WTO  in 2017.
- (d) India also negotiated a Ministerial Decision which recognizes that developing countries  will  have  the  right  to  have  recourse  to  an  agricultural  Special Safeguard  Mechanism  (SSM)  as  envisaged  in  the  Doha  mandate  for  which negotiations  will  be  held  in  dedicated  sessions  with  the  General  Council mandated  to  regularly  review  progress  of  these  negotiations.      The  SSM  is intended to  help developing countries protect their agriculture sector from the possible adverse effects of import surges.