India asked to speed up parallel trade track along WTO

India asked to speed up parallel trade track along WTO

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New Delhi, Aug 10: The UN body UNCTAD Thursday asked India to speed up trade talks among developing countries for gaining market within the fast growing south without making concessions to the rich nations under the WTO negotiations.
Along the multi-lateral Doha round of WTO, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had launched negotiations for the developing countries so that they can increase trade among themselves.
The third round of Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP), a separate track of negotiations, was launched at Sao Paolo in Brazil in 2004 and is now expected to conclude by the end of this year.
UNCTAD Director, incharge of Trade in Goods, Services and Commodities, Lakshmi Puri said India has high stakes in expanding south-south trade.
"For India, this can be an ideal complement to enhance market access and openness and predictability of southern markets that it can obtain...Without having to make concessions to developed country trading partners or facing competition from them in southern markets," she said at a FICCI seminar.
She said the GSTP would provide India an opportunity to counter the rich countries, which have entered into many markets of the developing nations, through regional trade agreements of which New Delhi is not a part.
Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Jayant Dasgupta said India was trying to bridge the gaps not only at a broader level but also by bilateral negotiations among the countries of the south.
Developing countries' share has tripled to 3.7 trillion dollars or 36 percent of the world trade since 1995. India, China, Brazil and South Africa have emerged as leaders of the south.

Bureau Report