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KAMAL NATH TO ADDRESS STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION ON WTO AGRICULTURAL NEGOTIATIONS TOMORROW
Date : 19 Jul 2005
Location : New Delhi
Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, is scheduled to address the valedictory session of the Stakeholder Consultation Workshop titled “Pre-Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting Consultation: Agriculture Negotiations”, here tomorrow evening. The Workshop is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as part of a series of stakeholder consultations on different sectors in the ongoing Doha round of negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The Workshop has different sessions focussing on the key areas of agricultural negotiations including market access issues; domestic support; and export competition. It will also focus on special treatment for developing countries through special products (SPs) and special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for the preservation of the food security and rural livelihood concerns of farmers in developing countries. Supply side issues and non-tariff barriers in agriculture are also being discussed within the overall framework of the challenges and opportunities for India in the negotiations.
Inaugurating the 2-day Workshop here today, Shri S.N. Menon, Commerce Secretary, called for effective and operational special and differential treatment for developing countries. He stressed that overall proportionately in the commitments of developing countries against those of developed countries and recourse to SPs and SSM were central to safeguarding food and livelihood security and rural development needs of developing countries.
Participants at the Workshop include representatives from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce); Ministry of Agriculture; Planning Commission; Forum of Bio-Technology and Food Security; CUTS/Jaipur; Focus on the Global South; Delhi School of Economics (Agricultural Economic Research Centre); Centre for International Trade in Agriculture (CITA); Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of India; National council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER); and the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultant Society, besides UNCTAD.
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