With battle lines drawn between the developed and the developing countries for the fifth World Trade Organisation ministerial beginning From Wednesday in Cancun, Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley appears all set to toe the tough stance taken by his predecessor, Murasoli Maran, at Doha.
In his very first round of one-to-one bilateral talks with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, Jaitley went on the offensive and told them that heavy domestic support and export subsidies in the US and the EU were hurting Indian farmers.
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The commerce minister has made it clear that he will continue to block the issues and officials in his team have gone to the extent of saying that India will not change its stance even if it is isolated on the subjects -- a reminder of the Doha ministerial. Even on agriculture, India would continue with its position, officials said.
India has also raised the issue of transparency in the functioning of the WTO and the matter came up for discussion during a meeting Jaitley had with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, who will be the chairman of the fifth ministerial meeting.
Meanwhile, Australian trade minister Mark Vaile, who is also the deputy leader of the 17-country Cairns group, said that the US-EU farm proposal, seeking ambitious tariff and subsidy cuts would be disastrous for the developing countries and was only aimed at pushing market access for rich nations.
Australia is one of Cairns group members, which have not openly supported the G-20 agricultural proposal being pushed by countries including India, China, Brazil and Mexico.
The group of 20 developing countries (G-20) on Tuesday held its first meeting to ensure that the coalition, drawn up after the EU and the US buried their differences on contentious issues of reduction in agricultural subsidies and reduction on tariffs, stayed in place.
Last evening a group of developing countries, including China and Brazil and African and Caribbean countries discussed the prospects of the inclusion of Singapore issues, on which a decision has to be taken at the Cancun ministerial.
For Jaitley, the Cancun ministerial will be the test of all times, since he has to take care of the interests of the 650 million Indian farmers, and that too during an election year.
Already being viewed as one of the top five leaders at the meeting, Jaitley's mandate from the Indian government includes opposition to the inclusion of Singapore issues, and pressing for cut in export subsidies and domestic support by the developed countries.
On agriculture, which remains the most contentious issue in Cancun, Jaitley is expected to seek moderate tariff reductions only after developed countries like the US and the EU, which spent over $ 300 billion annually as farm support, agreed to steep cuts in export subsidies.
WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi believes that a resolution of differences on fixing modalities for agricultural negotiations would itself lead to progress in other areas.
Interestingly, it was in Cancun in the early eighties that the seeds for inclusion of agriculture under the GATT framework were sown when African members made a case for high subsidies in developed countries affecting their markets which led to the then US President Ronald Regan making a case for agricultural trade reforms.