(a) Whether the Government intends to enter into bilateral ties with
other countries and form regional groupings to meet its trade target on the failure of Doha round WTO talks;
(b)If so, the details thereof alongwith the countries with which the Government is likely to enter into bilateral ties;
(c) Whether any assessment has been made on the effect of the
present impasse at WTO talk on trade; and
(d) If so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY(SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH)
(a) and (b): India’s engagement in Regional Trade Arrangements (RTAs) is not
predicated upon the suspension of negotiations under the Doha Round in the
World Trade Organisation (WTO), and its trade policy continues to uphold a
rule-based multilateral trading system, with complementary Regional Trade
arrangements which serve as building blocks and which aim to achieve India’s
development imperatives.
(c) and (d): Implications for India’s trade are assessed as required by the
exigencies of the negotiations under the Doha Round. The effects of the
suspension of negotiations on trade are not readily amenable to quantification
without making assumptions on a number of parameters, including the period
of delay and the likely nature of final convergences.
In order to ensure that the WTO negotiating process and the outcome of the
Doha Round embody the development imperatives of developing countries
articulated in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the July 2004 Framework
Agreement of 1 August 2004 and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration of
December 2005, India has intensified its outreach to other developing countries
, like-minded Members of the WTO and the trade majors. The Government has
also been engaged in consultations with stakeholders in order to evolve its
position and strategy in the negotiations so as to safeguard India’s interests
and concerns across all the negotiating areas of the Doha Work Programme.