Mumbai:
High tariff, specific duties and non-tariff barriers in
developed countries are hampering industrialisation of
the developing nations, India''s ambassador to the United
Nations Nirupam Sen told a UN committee. Non-tariff barriers
alone cost the poor countries $100 billion, almost twice
the current level of official development assistance,
Sen pointed out.
By
refusing to reduce agricultural subsidies, the developed
nations, he said, are trying to entrench imbalances and
inequities in the international trading system.
Sen
warned the rich nations against restrictive practices
in agriculture, which has vital ramifications for developing
countries. "Food security and rural livelihood are
of immense economic relevance and have a socio-political
dimension in many developing nations," he said.
The
developed nations have not fulfilled the understanding
given when agriculture was brought into the multilateral
trade negotiations that ''trade distorting'' subsidies would
be phased out in a definite timeframe, Sen said minimising
vulnerabilities of poor farmers should be the world''s
collective priority.
A
trading system, which displaces low income and subsistence
farmers to satisfy commercial interests of the rich nations
cannot be supported, he said. He demanded market access
to low income farmers from poor countries in the developed
markets. Sen
also stressed on the overarching principle of special
and differential treatment which, he said, is a categorical
imperative and the underlying basis of the position of
developing nations.
|