After three years of a series of negotiations in India and in the United States, heated debates in both the houses of Indian parliament, and protracted political turmoil culminating in the trust vote, the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal is finally set on a cruising altitude. The deal is pushed through the next stage. And in doing so, India has shown the world the vibrancy of its democratic process. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after winning the trust vote moved by him, thanked those who showed the world that “India is prepared to take its rightful place in the comity of nations.” The deal, as I had said in my earlier article, is important to India. Not just for the additional energy capacity it will help generate, but, more importantly, because it will end nuclear isolation for India, which, once the deal is passed by the IAEA board and cleared by Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), will enable India to do nuclear trade with the NSG member countries. Noted economist Swaminathan Ayer has articulated in his “Swaminomics” in the July 27, Sunday, edition of The Times of India, how India can emerge as a major exporter of nuclear equipment and it could be among countries that take decisions on sanctions. It is worth reading for those who are still skeptical about the benefits of the deal for India.
Now let us train our sinew to another important multilateral engagement India is currently involved with in Geneva. The ongoing ministerial meetings in Geneva on Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization, or WTO is of equal importance for India’s economic progress and claiming its rightful place in the comity of nations. WTO is a rule-based global trading system. The WTO regime provides for biennial ministerial meetings to review progress and negotiate on new issues. Its root can be traced to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) founded in 1948 by 23 countries, including India. Subsequently, after the 8th rounds of talks under the GATT, from 1986 to 1994, known as Uruguay Round, the WTO was formed in 1995. India so far is doing excellent job with our Union minister of commerce and industry Kamal Nath driving hard bargains and aggressively protecting India’s interest. WTO is a complex mechanism, much more complex than the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. But it is of equally crucial importance for India's domestic and international trade interests. But unlike the nuclear deal, very few people outside those who are involved in it professionally or politically know what it is all about.
I have been involved with WTO professionally for a number year. I have interacted with several people across different fields who are also involved in the process in some way or the other. An overwhelming majority among them feel that WTO is the tool designed by the rich countries to dominate the world trade; that it is not geared towards protecting interests of the least developed and developing countries; that it does not offer level playing field for all its member countries. The structure of WTO is such that an agreement on any issue can only be achieved on consensus, and not by majority. There are 153 member countries, including Cape Verde which became its member on July 23, 2008. All the member countries must agree to any proposal in any operational areas of the WTO. So the structure is not biased towards any country or a set of countries. Yes, as in any organization, from a housing society to a corporate board room, your success will depend on how hard and effectively you defend your interests and also how capable you are in building and leading the majority to rally around your views. The same is true with the WTO. If you are careful, cautious and bargain hard to protect our country’s interest, there is no reason why we should worry about being exploited. Our team led by commerce minister Kamal Nath has been doing an excellent job of ensuring to protect India’s interest, particularly in the area of agriculture. It is all about hard bargaining, pushes and pulls, pressure groups tactics and give-and-take approach. India cannot hope to have everything without yielding anything. At the same time, it is not possible for the rich countries to run away with all the gains. It is also about using mechanism in the WTO regime in innovative ways. Look at the way the EU nations are using “Color Boxes” provisions to protect their domestic agenda. Finally, not taking part in the WTO negotiations, as some critics maintain, is not going to help India. It will only lead to regional and bilateral trade pacts, which would be detrimental to India global trade interests. In fact, just as the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the WTO mechanism offers India yet another opportunity to fuel its economic growth and occupy its rightful place in the comity of nations in the 21st Century.
Those who want to learn more about the WTO should log on to http://www.wto.org/ or http://www.cuts.org/
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