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The Commerce Minister Kamal Nath stated that "If developing countries need to take advantage from trade the only way would be to make 'developing economies' into 'healthy economies'." Speaking today at the Third South Asian Conference on Trade and Development organised by Centre for Trade and development (Centad) the Minister stressed upon two challenges before Asian Economies, 'Two F's - Food and Fuel'.
He called for providing 'social security net' to farmers and harnessing the gains from agriculture through proper Restructuring of Agriculture sector to ensure a greater movement of the available workforce out of agriculture to manufacturing and service sector.
On the issue of Climate Change he criticised the inequitable pressure on India and China to reduce emissions and favoured the 'common but differentiated approach to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change and trade. The commerce minister released the summary of Recommendation of the South Asia Yearbook of Trade and Development 2007-08 published by Centad titled 'Harnessing Gains from Trade: Domestic Challenges and Beyond.'
The Minister was addressing a gathering of delegates from South Asian Countries which included members of WTO missions from these countries, Government officials, Academia and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Prof Charan Wadhva from Centre for Policy Research talked about the important role of NGOs in participating in trade talks, to address the necessity for providing a human dimension to trade talks. He commended Commerce Ministers position that agriculture is important for Asia and his statement that 'India can negotiate Commerce but not livelihood of farmers'.
Delivering the Key Note Address Prof B.S. Chimni from JNU commended Centad for providing well researched inputs to negotiate trade from a position of strength. He criticised the present trading system as unfair which leaves little room for policy space and inclusive growth. He stressed the need for revisiting the current understanding of free trade and its institutional structures.
Dr Md. Saeed from the WTO Mission Pakistan said the SAARC countries are not united (Joint strategy) and they do not have a common interest even though they have similar position in most multilateral forums.
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