Should G-33 should push for permanent solution to public stockholding at upcoming World Trade Organization ministerial? Comment (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
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IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· The ‘G-33’ group that includes India, China, Indonesia and 30 other African and central American countries, has placed an important proposal before the WTO.
· The proposal yet again urges the developed nations to find a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding, instead of repeatedly asking untenable questions of major food producers such as India, Indonesia and China on their ‘trade-distorting’ agri subsidies.
· In fact, the Centre has rightly decided to make a case for G2G food exports from public stocks at the upcoming WTO Ministerial in Geneva. The G-33 grouping should push back on efforts to influence food production and trade patterns.
· India has secured an indefinite peace clause on food procurement in November 2014 (a year after the Bali Ministerial) pending a permanent solution to food procurement.
· As the G-33 proposal points out, the external reference price should be a three-year average price, based on the preceding five-year period excluding the highest and lowest price, rather than one based on 1986-88 prices as the base.
· That said, India’s agri support regime requires overhaul a shift away from input subsidy to income and extension support. While this could make its payouts WTO-compatible, it is a transition that India should make on its own terms.
