India, along with China, South Africa and Venezuela, has insisted on
continuing with the special and differential (S&D) treatment for developing
countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO), countering efforts of the
US, which is seeking equal treatment for all members at the multilateral
trade body.
In a paper submitted to the WTO on Monday, the four countries said selfdeclaration
of developing member status had been a long-standing practice
and best serves the WTO objectives.
The paper said the persistence of the enormous development divide between
the developing and developed members of the WTO is reflected on a wide
range of indicators such as levels of economic development, GDP per capita,
poverty levels, levels of under-nourishment, production and employment in
the agriculture sector, among others.
“Against this background, recent attempts by some members to selectively
employ certain economic and trade data to deny the persistence of the divide
between developing and developed members, and to demand the former to
abide by absolute “reciprocity" in the interest of “fairness" are profoundly
disingenuous," it added.
Under the S&D provisions,
developing countries get
longer time periods for
implementing WTO
agreements and commitments.
At the mini-ministerial of trade
ministers, on the sidelines of
the World Economic Forum at
Davos in January, India’s
commerce secretary Anup
Wadhawan made a strong case for continuing with the S&D measures for
developing countries.
“The (WTO) reform process must fully take into
account the reality that despite some significant success stories in developing
countries, on the average, they continue to lag far behind developed
countries. Consequently, developing countries should not be expected to
take the same obligations as the developed countries."
In his speech at the WTO Ministerial in Buenos Aires in December 2017,
United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer had criticized
the S&D treatment enjoyed by large developing countries like India. “We
cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to the few, and
that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development
status. There is something wrong, in our view, when five of the six richest
countries in the world presently claim developing country status," he added.
However, India’s trade minister Suresh Prabhu had retorted that the
discourse on development at the WTO is sought to be deflected by specious
arguments based on aggregate GDP figures. “While in India we are proud of
our GDP and growth rates in recent years, propelled by innovative economic
policies of my government, we cannot ignore that India is home to more than
600 million poor people," he said.
Source: Live Mint, India Friday, 22 February 2019