'India Won't Wait Without End For WTO Food Stocks Solution'

NEW DELHI: Giving notice of India's unwillingness to wait "interminably" for resolving WTO issues concerning public stockholding of food grain, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hoped that World Trade Organization members would understand its position and come up with a solution.

"We won't wait interminably for a solution on food stockpiling. We hope that the WTO member countries understand the position India has taken. We would like WTO to address them and I am hopeful," Sitharaman said while addressing the media here on the initiatives her ministry has taken in the first 100 days of the National Democratic Alliance government.

"Negotiations will have to continue. It is not just for India, but in the interest of many countries which have public stock of food grain. These are issues of sovereign right of a country," she added.

The WTO has resumed meetings at Geneva from Sep 1 after a month long vacation.

India has clarified that its decision not to ratify WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in end-July is aimed at ensuring that the country's efforts to ensure food security remain consistent with its international obligations.

India's stand is that without such a permanent solution, public stockholding measures in developing countries will be hampered by the current ceiling on domestic support at 10 percent of the value of production. Such support is considered as a trade-distorting subsidy to farmers under existing WTO rules.

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