November 7: Union Commerce minister B B Ramaiah on Friday reiterated India's opposition to new issues being raised at WTO as well as the proposed new round of multilateral trade negotiations without first completing the agenda of the Uruguay Round agreements.

He was inaugurating a two-day International Business Round Table on Uruguay Round Agreements-Implications for International Trade in Technology-Based Products in the Capital organised by Ficci.

Ramaiah referred to the deliberations of the recent G-15 trade and economic ministers meeting at Kuala Lumpur to underline that another round of trade negotiations would be premature as the existing WTO agreements had to be fully absorbed by most developing countries.

He also assured trade and industry of the government's fullest support and cooperation in gearing up to face the challenges arising out of the Uruguay Round in various sectors, including the upgradation of standards to conform to the new regulations.

At the same time, the minister underlined India's commitment in fulfilling its WTO obligations as a signatory to the agreements, citing reduction in tariff levels as a measure of the counry's commitment to the process of trade liberalisation.

In his special address, Divestment Commission chairman G V Ramakrishna called upon the industry and the government to take serious note of the implications of the various agreements and formulate a suitable action plan.There should be a detailed study of the agreements, including an examination of how other countries were fulfilling their obligations; the adverse effects of the agreements, and how to avail of the trade opportunities arising from them.

Ramakrishna further pointed out that the WTO represented not only a new international economic order but also a new `socio-economic contract'. Hence, it needs to be understood and explained that the dilution of national sovereignty in exchange for trade opportunities was implicit in the agreements because of the commitments undertaken not only by India but also all other signatory countries, he said.

He also stressed the need for organising agreement-wise specialised seminars with the active participation of the concerned industries as well as legal experts to fully understand the implications of the agreements and face the challenges arising therefrom.

Ramakrishna said while the agreements were being discussed by the industry in India now, others were already using these effectively and quoting their provisions against India.

In this context, he stressed the importance of understanding the agreement on technological barriers to trade and deplored that there was no national accreditation body for testing standards yet. "WTO is not merely a talking shop, it has real teeth and therefore we need to prepare adequately, particularly for dispute settlement in order to avoid adverse rulings", he added.

Ficci president-elect K K Modi said that technical standards should not be allowed to be used unilaterally and arbitrarily against the developing countries, which are in need of transfer of technology to upgrade their facilities.

WTO should facilitate free and fair trading to ensure adequate market access for developing countries, he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.