Strong leadership in India and substantive arguments led to resolution of differences on food security related issues and paved the way for ending the impasse at the WTO soon, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.
India's voice is not just heard but taken seriously at global institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and G-20, she added.
Talking about WTO, she said in July members labelled India as the deal breaker, but thanks to the country's strong leadership New Delhi managed to convince the multilateral body about its legitimate demand. "...we wouldn't have reached a stage where we can say that we are closer to a solution and we probably will get over the impasse.
It's only because you were able to as a country stand up with strength, argue with substance and negotiate with equal rights," she said at the World Hindu Economic Forum. "...because of the kind of leadership with which we were able to project India, that is a very big difference," she added.
"It leads you to be taken seriously...India is now not just seeking high table, it is being invited to the high table only because the sagging European and North American economies depend on emerging economies like India for solutions to revive their economies," she said.
Recently India and the US successfully resolved their differences relating to the issue of public stock holding for food security purposes, paving the way for a breakthrough to end the three-month long stalemate at WTO.
As per the agreement, the US will support India's proposal at WTO that 'peace clause', crucial for uninterrupted implementation of India's food security programme, should continue indefinitely till a permanent solution is found.
This will enable India to continue procurement and stocking of foodgrain for distribution to poor under its food security programme without attracting any kind of action from WTO members even if it breaches the 10 per cent subsidy cap as prescribed by WTO.
As per the WTO Bali agreement, the peace clause was to continue till 2017 only The differences on the public stock holding of foodgrains between the developed countries led by the US and developing nations including India led to impasse over ratification of the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) at Geneva in July.
Sitharaman said that developed countries were blaming India for the impasse at the WTO, but India convinced them about its legitimate demand.
Talking about government's steps to boost country's economic growth, the Minister said several measures were being taken to ensure healthy growth rate. The government is taking steps like simplifying tax regime of the country and resolving credit related issues of MSMEs.
