However, New Delhi will strongly oppose any proposal to bring non-trade issues such as the environment and labour standards within the WTO's ambit, a senior commerce ministry official told India Abroad News Service on condition of anonymity.

India's position is reflected in the remarks being added to, or removed from a confidential draft ministerial text for the meeting starting November 30. A copy of the draft, which was circulated recently to WTO member-countries by Director General Mike Moore, has been obtained by IANS.

The Seattle Ministerial Conference is to set the formal agenda for the next round of WTO negotiations that begins in January 2000. Some countries, including India and the United States, want the negotiations to be limited to trade issues that are already mandated for - including tariff and non-tariff barriers on farm products, services and industrial goods. But some others, led mainly by the European Union (EU) and Japan, want to broaden the scope for the Seattle negotiations.

The EU and Japan are not only pushing for talks on some new issues like clear-cut policies on foreign investment, competition, government procurement and e-commerce, but also want to link non-trade issues such as the environment and labour standards to trade.

"Under the existing Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), on almost 50 per cent of the items, the non-trade barriers go only on December 31, 2004 - the last date of the transition period. India will certainly push for advancing this by at least two years," said Arun Goyal, an expert on WTO matters and director of the Academy of Business Studies.

In addition, India also wants a clause inserted in the agreement to read: "A moratorium shall be applied by importing countries on anti-dumping actions, until two years after the entire textiles and clothing sector is integrated into GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)."

On the issue of foreign direct investment, India is agreeable on two counts: having clearly spelt-out policies on investment matters and extending post-investment parity to a foreign entity vis-a-vis an Indian company, commerce ministry sources said. But it will oppose a third demand for notifying these policies in the WTO which would make possible only further liberalisation while barring a retraction of any provisions, they added.

Experts like former commerce secretary AV Ganesan -- who negotiated the earlier Uruguay Round on India's behalf - maintain that New Delhi should also demand a substantial lowering of import tariffs on farm products.

-- IANS