India on Thursday expressed hope that the forthcoming World Trade Organisation Ministerial at Cancun will manage to break the deadlock over Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health.
"We hope that Cancun may be the place to solve it (impasse over para six of TRIPS and Public Health)", Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley said while inaugurating a seminar on anti-dumping and subsidy investigations.
Para 6 of TRIPS and Public Health allows countries without manufacturing capabilities to grant compulsory licences in health emergencies.
WTO was a market and not a forum for charity, he said, adding that in the process of negotiations attempts should be made to protect national interests.
"WTO is not a forum for charity... it is a market. You have to try and protect your national interest," he said.
On agriculture, he said the desire of developing countries to have market access would not only create economic distress but also social upheaval as they were asking unsubsidised farmers to compete with those who receive subsidy.
India, which has 650 million farmers depending on agriculture for livelihood, will have to put its viewpoint very effectively, he said.
On anti-dumping, he said India had taken effective measures to safeguard the interest of its industries.
