Annual Report 2009-2010 - Department of Agriculture & Co-operation

11.10 The Doha Round of trade negotiations in
the World Trade Organization (WTO), which were
launched in November 2001, is in progress. The
Chairman of the WTO Agriculture Negotiations
brought out further Revised Draft Modalities on
Agriculture on 6 December 2008. Multilateral
discussions on the text gained impetus from the
mini-ministerial meeting which was held in New
Delhi between September 2-4 2009, with the
objective of developing a broad-based
consensus to energise the multilateral process
at the WTO and translate the political intent to
wrap up the Doha round in 2010 into groundlevel
progress. Throughout the negotiations,
India has been working constructively with
coalition partners in developing country
groupings such as the G-20 and the G-33. In
recent discussions, the G-20 and G-33 have
emphasised the need to respect the multilateral
mandate, with the texts of December 2008 to
form a basis of future work. The Chair of the
Negotiating Groups on Agriculture is
implementing an issue-based work plan for
intensifying engagement on negotiations and
scheduling of commitments. The seventh
ministerial meeting was held in the WTO
between 30 November-2 December 2009, to
review WTO activities including the Doha Work
Programme.
11.11 India is committed towards a successful
conclusion of the Doha Round negotiations,
while protecting the livelihood and food security
concerns of its farmers, as per the agreed
framework for negotiation. Since the primary
objective of the Doha Round is to put the
development dimension of international trade on
to the centre-stage, developing countries,
including India, are arguing in the ongoing
negotiations that, in undertaking liberalisation
and reforms in agriculture trade, it is important
to protect poor and vulnerable farmers from the
shocks of import surges or decline in import
prices, and to protect their livelihood, particularly
in the context of trade distorting subsidies, with
the help of agreed flexibilities of Special Products
and Special Safeguard Mechanisms. These
policy flexibilities are required to protect the
interests of vulnerable and resource-poor
farmers.
Agricultural Trade
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