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Asking India not to succumb to the pressure of developed countries, particularly the US and EU, at the Doha Round of trade talks, a leading NGO has dubbed the give and take in WTO texts as "unfair" and "unequal".
"The developed countries will put pressure on developing countries like India and Brazil to yield to their demands or else be blamed for the failure of the talks. But, the latest draft texts in agriculture and NAMA modalities show that the 'rate of exchange' (give and take) is still unequal," Martin Khor, the Director of Third World Network, an NGO representing developing countries, said.
"The agriculture text proposes that the US reduces its trade distorting subsidies to a range of $13 to 16.4 billion. The US had indicated that it could consider the upper part of that range which is close to $17 billion it had already offered in Potsdam," Khor said.
Khor further said that even if it (US) offers the lowest number in the range, this is still significantly higher than the reported $7 billion of its actual overall trade distorting subsidies in 2007.
On industrial goods, developing countries, led by India and Brazil, want "more unrestricted use of flexibility in NAMA tariff reduction" which the developed nations seek to restrict through the 'anti-concentration' clause. (Source: The Hindu)
July 25, 2008
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