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India is seeking support from a bloc of African countries to maintain its stand against the United States in upholding a five-year-old cotton agreement — the latest roadblock in taking multilateral Doha round trade talks forward. Although the ‘cotton four’ — Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad and Mali — publicly stated their dissatisfaction on Monday with the West’s neglect of agreements made in the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, India’s negotiators in Delhi are worried that their position may soon be compromised by American lobbying.
“The problem is that we do not rely heavily on cotton exports, but the industry is important. If the ‘cotton four’ are bought out by the US, then we are left in a difficult position,” said a commerce ministry official on the condition of anonymity.
In tune with much of the developing world, Indian representatives have stated that the Doha trade agreement could not be resolved without progress in implementing the cotton trade rules established in 2005, according to a WTO official who did not wish to be named. The 2005 agreement declared that developed countries would eliminate all forms of cotton export subsidies in 2006 and would provide duty and quota-free access for cotton exports from least-developed countries, while including general language on domestic subsidies. The flaw in the plan, however, is that cotton export subsidies make up about 10 per cent of the world’s subsidies on cotton with domestic subsidies making up the rest, said DK Nair, secretary general for the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry.
11 June, 2010 by admin