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India, China and other developing countries have told the US and the EU that they will not agree to an anti-concentration proposal that would severely whittle away their flexibilities in Doha package on market-opening for industrial goods.
“India will not agree if sectoral tariff elimination is made mandatory,” India's chief trade negotiator Rahul Khullar said ahead of an all-important members of Group of 12 countries at the US mission.
Senior officials from G-12, including the US, EU, India and China, stepped up efforts to keep the Doha trade negotiations on rails by placating Brazil, Argentina and South Africa, which have specific concerns with trade in industrial goods.
Brazil's chief trade negotiator Roberto Azevedo threatened to leave the negotiations if the special flexibilities for the four MERCOSUR Customs Union members — Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — are not conceded.
In response, the US and the EU have repeatedly maintained they are willing to consider additional flexibilities for Argentina, which has a vulnerable industrial structure, but not the remaining members of the Customs Union.
To break the deadlock over the flexibilities for the four South American countries, a compromise formula is being thrashed out in which they will be given a special carve-out in flexibilities.
However, there is no agreement yet on the coefficients to be used by developing countries.
The US and the EU want developing countries to agree on an anti-concentration framework that would place a threshold on the number of industrial products that can be subjected to half the formula cut.
“The EU's proposal is not acceptable at all,” Khullar said, arguing that there is no mandate for the anti-concentration in the final modalities. (Source: Business Standard)
June 25, 2008
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