No Gains, No Losses

India guards its interests over a permanent solution to public food stockpile issue at the recent WTO meet.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that this is probably the first time in recent history that India is not being blamed for the collapse of talks at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Buenos Aires. "We came here with an open mind, but things did not move because of the adamant attitude of some members," Mr Prabhu has said.

The talks at the 11th ministerial conference of the WTO collapsed last month with the US going back on the commitment made by it along with other member countries to find a permanent solution to the public food stockpile issue. Following the breakdown of talks, there was no ministerial declaration at the end of the conference, though chair and Argentinean Minister Susana Malcorra made a statement highlighting the developments.

"This is (for the) first time that India is not being blamed...we are definitely not going back as villains," Mr Prabhu has said, adding that the country has not lost anything but gained a lot, especially in terms of the goodwill of the developing nations.

Western hypocrisy

At previous ministerial meetings, India was often blamed for adopting an uncompromising and stern attitude, which had thwarted attempts of member nations to reach consensus on key issues. The minister has said that during the course of the 11th ministerial conference, he had over two dozen bilateral meetings, during which he explained the position of India as well as that of the developing nations on different issues.

Observing that trade negotiations are always difficult, Mr Prabhu has noted: "We knew that nothing was going to happen because of the way the US administration was moving... questioning the efficiency of the global trading system."