Indian push for non-farm access at WTO

India will make a case for having a defined formula to push the non-agricultural market access negotiations in the ongoing Doha round, at the World Trade Organisation mini-ministerial being held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos.

"We want to ensure that agriculture negotiations do not block the progress on other fronts. We will press for having a defined formula for non-agricultural market access negotiations since this is vital for India, given our interest in the services sector," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told Business Standard.

Progress on non-farm market access is also crucial in the wake of the revised May 31 deadline in the WTO to make offers in the services sector.

India and the EU have made initial offers in services but the response from most countries has not been encouraging. More than 30 trade ministers, including from the US, EU, China and Brazil, are expected to attend the mini-ministerial, the first this year.

The WTO meetings on the sidelines of the WEF was also significant since this would be the first meeting after the beginning of US President George Bush's second-term and the taking over of EU presidency by Luxembourg, Nath said.

The minister is also slated to hold several bilateral discussions, including one with the outgoing US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

India has also offered to host a meting of the G-20, a grouping of developing nations. Nath said the G-20 meeting earlier scheduled to be held in February was likely to be postponed to early March since it would be too soon after the Davos meet.

The commerce and industry minister is also expected to speak on the recent patent amendment Ordinance undertaken by India in compliance with the WTO norms at a session titled 'India meets Doha'.

Another session expected to generate much interest is the one on 'Beijing and India', where Nath will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart.

While China receives 10 times more foreign direct investment than India, the commerce minister is expected to emphasise the fact that India's exports are just one-fourth of China.

"We will make the point that our exports are not dependent on FDI. Rather, they reflect India's manufacturing capability," an official said, adding that the minister would also highlight the fact that investors had started to prefer India over China because of greater transparency in policies.

Several CEOs of leading multinational firms, including Coca-Cola, are also understood to be seeking to meet the minister.