|
Indian trade experts have agreed with WTO chief Pascal Lamy's predictions that the world food crisis can be resolved through a world trade pact that centers around correcting free market distortions.
The current food crisis can be solved through a successful outcome of the Doha Round of negotiations for a multi-lateral trade deal among 151 countries, the Director General of World Trade Organisation had recently said.
“Although the WTO cannot provide anything immediate help to solve the current crisis, it can, through the Doha Round negotiations, provide medium to long-term solutions. A WTO deal could help soften the impact of high prices by tackling the systemic distortions in the international market for food,” Lamy had said.
Head of the Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Biswajit Dhar said if an agreement is reached it would provide certainty in terms of policy regime for the farmers in developing countries. “A fair trade will encourage farmers from the developing countries to invest more in expanding agriculture production,” he said.
However, if the existing distortions which include heavy subsidies to the rich farmers in the developed countries prevail, the agriculturalists in countries like India, Brazil, South Africa, Pakistan and China would shy away from expanding their produce.
“The Doha deal will improve viability of agriculture,” Dhar said, adding that farmers would also be sure about not being thrown out of the market by the foreign agricultural produce swarming their markets. (Source: Hindu)
May 14, 2008
|
