Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Negotiations at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference, which concluded on March 3, failed to achieve any outcome on public stock holding(PSH) for food security and domestic support for farmers in developing countries, including India, which has been demanding a permanent solution on these issues.
The conference held in Abu Dhabi, was extended by a dayamid hectic parleys to narrow differences between developed and developing countries on crucial issues such as agriculture and fisheries subsidies. But the extra day didn’t end the impasse.
India and 80 other countries have been negotiating a permanent solution for public stockholding (PSH) of food instead of temporary measures. PSH and other measures like subsidies and minimum support prices (MSP) are viewed as trade-distorting domestic measures by the developed world and have been a long-pending mandated issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
India has argued that the focus should not be narrowed down to the trade interests of exporting countries only; the real concern is the food security and livelihood of people.
