New Delhi [India], December 10 (ANI): India will oppose the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) proposal, which is led by China, at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), sources in the Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday.
China is pushing for the IFD proposal at the WTO. China has got the support of 128 countries out of a total of 166 member countries. The US is neither supporting nor opposing the proposal, and four other countries are supporting India on this issue. The proposal will be binding for only the signatory members.
“We are opposing this. It is a plurilateral agreement, and it is also not a trade agreement,” sources said.
India will also submit papers to the WTO against this, the official said, adding that such agreements would dilute the multilateral nature of the Geneva-based organisation.
The IFD was first mooted in 2017 by China and other countries that depend heavily on Chinese investments, and countries with sovereign wealth funds are party to that pact.
Sources said that “we want WTO first settle the mandated issues. We will not let them discuss any new issues.”
India has strongly asked for a permanent solution to public stockholding of grains for food security, an issue that has been pending for over two decades.
In the WTO meeting, India is not going to compromise on food security and livelihood issues of its farmers. According to sources, India’s support measures to the farmers are for their sustenance. India has been able to align with about 80 countries on this particular issue.
On the other hand, production-based support measures to farmers distort trade. India provides a meagre subsidy of USD 465 per farmer against USD 81,000 per farmer by America in 2022-23.
The source said that India’s stand is very strong and that if any decision will have to come on agriculture, then the first thing that will be done is our permanent solution to public stock-holding; otherwise, we will not allow any other decision in agriculture. This will be our priority, and India’s stand will be a “big red line” for the country, and it is non-negotiable.
Other than this India has advocated for adopting a per capita distribution of subsidies criteria to address concerns over overfishing and capacity under the WTO framework, ahead of the General Council meeting in Geneva on December 16-17.
India has submitted a paper highlighting the disparity between distant water fishing nations and low-income nations. India has submitted three papers before and it would come up for discussion in the meeting.
The Indian paper has noted that it provides a modest USD 35 per fisherman annually, compared to subsidies as high as USD 76,000 per fisher per year in some European countries.
In 2022, the countries finalised a pact on stopping subsidies for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities.
Countries like Norway, China, Japan, and the US undertake distant water fishing and provide huge subsidies to their fishing community.
On the other hand, developing countries that have yet to build such capacities and support large fisher populations are placed at a disadvantage, it said, adding, “This paper posits that countries should not be subjected to stricter disciplines based on the total value of their subsidies but rather on the intensity of subsidies provided.”
Sources in the Commerce Ministry said “We are saying we have proposed that the countries that are very low in terms of the per capita subsidy of fisheries should have a permanent carve-out on the disciplines in this fish two agreement.” (ANI)
