‘India will not agree to a new round of WTO talks’
Focus should be on developmental issues that are on the plate, says Prabhu
NEW DELHI: India’s new commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu will face his first big challenge of defending multilateralism and securing India’s interests at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Buenos Aires starting December 10. In an interview, Prabhu talks about his strategy for WTO, China and free trade agreements. Prabhu also hopes to use exports as a tool to create employment opportunities in India. Edited excerpts:
In the previous Nairobi Ministerial of WTO two years ago, the Doha Development Agenda could not be affirmed unanimously. Will we see the final nails in the coffin of Doha round in Buenos Aires?
Nothing dramatic happens in every WTO ministerial, particularly today when the global economy is not as sound as it was, when the US has certain strong position on the entire multilateral institution, when there is still an overhang of the previous rounds of negotiations on this ministerial. We should be very realistic about the Ministerial in Buenos Aires. At the same time, we are not giving up the issues. Doha Development Agenda is very much there and is an important component of the WTO agenda. I have talked to at least 40 ministers about it.
So we will not agree to a new round of WTO talks?
There is no question about it. I said very clearly at the Marrakesh Mini Ministerial that before adding any new issues, let us deal with the issues that are already on the plate. Those issues are development issues.
What about new issues like investment protection and ecommerce?
There are issues that every country puts up. But there is a difference between issues raised and negotiations. Issues raised can be anything, issues for negotiations should be the ones upon which there is agreement and they are part of the work programme.
Fisheries subsidy is one of the possible deliverables at the Argentina Ministerial. How are we going to protect our interest on it?
We are very clear that traditional fishermen should not be subjected to any conditions as such. Fisheries should be sustainable. There should not be overfishing. Even when you do overfishing in deep sea, that affects the coastal fishermen also because fish travel from one place to the other. This will benefit India.
After you took charge in the ministry, you talked about an agriculture export policy. The Centre has imposed Minimum Export Price on onions. Do you think a consistent agriculture export policy is possible given our focus on meeting domestic demand?
Work has already started regarding this. Having a policy does not mean import and export will not be subjected to change. It is always possible. Protecting the vulnerable, whether farmers or consumers is part of public policy. Sometimes, it is challenging. Therefore, public policy has to be done in a proper way, that’s why we are consulting as many stakeholders as possible. I have already met some farmers’ organisations and some agricultural experts. It is necessary that India has an agriexports policy because doubling farmers’ income can be achieved through exports in a short period of time.
India has a huge trade deficit with China and pleas by India for more market access have not yielded any result. What strategy you will follow visavis China?
I have met my counterpart in China in Manila after becoming the commerce minister. I told him this is unsustainable, we run huge trade deficit with you and it is not going to work. They have agreed to look at each and every sector, wherein we can export more by giving more market access, thus reducing trade deficit in a phased manner.
How do you plan to use exports as a tool to create more jobs?
In my first day in office, I decided we will create a policy for exports and employment. We have asked Niti Aayog to prepare a study for it. They have done some preliminary work. The propensity to create more jobs in exports is far higher than any other activity.