WTO’s duty to safeguard farmers’ interests: Sitharaman
New Delhi: Dec 16:
At the 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Nairobi, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cautioned that continuing to push a “development agenda” without addressing core concerns of vulnerable economies would be unjust and unsustainable.
Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman today asserted that, it is the duty of member countries of WTO to safeguard the legitimate interests of poor farmers and the food security of hundreds of millions in developing countries.
Addressing the 10th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Nairobi, Sitharaman said, member countries cannot continue with the rhetoric of a development agenda without even a reasonable attempt to address issues which are of primary concern to developing economies.
Raising concern on the farmers situation in the developing countries, the Minister said, a handful of farm lobbies of some countries have shaped the discourse and determined the destiny of millions of subsistence farmers of the developing countries.
She also expressed concern that the reduction in the massive subsidization of the farm sector in developed countries which was the clear cut mandate of the Doha Development Agenda ,DDA is now not even a subject matter of discussion in this conference.
The minister said G-33 has strongly argued the case for an effective special safeguard mechanism for developing countries and for changing the rules relating to public stockholding for food security purposes.
Pitching for conclusion of the pending issues of the Doha Round like providing special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to developing nations to protect interest of poor farmers, she said, it is regrettable that longstanding issues of interest to a large number of developing countries are being put aside for the future.
India is pitching for concerted efforts for a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding of grains for food security programmes in the country. (With inputs from AIR News/PIB)
