India blames US of obstructing permanent solution to food security at WTO MC11

The ongoing eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) may not arrive at a consensus on India's key agenda - an agreement on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes. The draft ministerial decision on the topic, circulated for consultation among the delegates, does not address any of the concerns of the developing world, participants say.

"We express deep disappointment with the new text of agricultural that was released by the Chair in consultation with a few Member States today. The way this text has emerged flouts all democratic and multilateral principles. Only 7 countries, in consultation with the Chair, have drafted this and sprung it on their fellow Members. This process therefore suffers from a severe lack of legitimacy," civil society representatives attending MC11 in Buenos Aires complained.

On public food stockholding, the critics felt the current proposal is far worse than the Peace Clause which itself suffered from several problems in terms of onerous notification requirements, restriction to staple crops which itself is undefined, and that the relevant subsidy do not distort trade or adversely affect the food security of others.  "These almost impossible notification and safeguard conditions have been retained in this text. In addition, higher standards are proposed on safeguards as footnotes which say such stocks cannot be "exported directly or indirectly". Again this condition, especially related to indirect exports, is impossible to meet," they point out.

According to them, the transparency and notification requirements that have been underscored in the draft text will impose burdensome compliance costs on developing and least developed countries. "Overall the text on Domestic Support is biased against developing countries, while going easy on the developed countries".

Meanwhile, in a strongly-worded statement India has blamed "a major country", which civil society groups term as USA, for derailing the whole process of finding a permanent solution to the public food stockholding issue.

"Today in the agriculture negotiations in Buenos Aires, a major country stated categorically that they cannot agree to any permanent solution on the public stockholding issue at MC11," a release from the Commerce ministry says. "This has posed a severe threat to a successful conclusion of the Conference as there was a Ministerial mandate for a permanent solution by MC11. India is surprised and deeply disappointed that despite an overwhelming majority of Members reiterating it, a major member country has reneged on a commitment made two years ago to deliver a solution of critical importance for addressing hunger in some of the poorest countries of the world. This has the potential to irreversibly damage the credibility of the WTO as a Ministerial Decision of all countries present in Nairobi has not been honoured".

While India continues to participate in the efforts to draft a credible Ministerial Declaration, an agreement at the moment looks unlikely.

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