EU says no question of reducing farm subsidies
New Delhi: With a little over three months left for the fifth World Trade Organisation full ministerial to take place at Cancun in Mexico in September, the European Union has stuck to its stand that farm export subsidies cannot be reduced and that it is keen to push forward the proposals for negotiations on a possible multilateral agreement on investment. On trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPs) and public health issues, however, the Union is willing to go by the Doha mandate.
The 15-nation European Union’s position on these issues was articulated by head of the Swiss negotiating team at WTO Luzius Wasescha at an interactive session with Ficci members in the Capital on Friday. Wasescha, who is also the chairman of the trade committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has admitted that the EU has a problem in reducing farm export subsidies, while Switzerland has also been facing the problem in eliminating such subsidies. This is because agricultural adjustment schemes both in the EU and Switzerland are devised for a four-year period, he has pointed out and added, “we need to to support the domestic industry as the production cost is high”.
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Govt to keep EPF rate at 9 per cent
New Delhi: Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma has an ace up his sleeve. He is likely to make millions of employees smile tomorrow by announcing an interest rate of 9 per cent — instead of the expected 8.5 per cent — on employees’ provident fund (EPF). And he’s expected to pull the rabbit out of his hat by dipping into EPF reserves. The arithmetic works like this. It will take an extra Rs 105.2 crore to hike the interest rate from 8.5 per cent to 9 per cent. The EPF Organisation (EPFO)’s interest suspense account has a balance of Rs 146 crore after the ‘02-03 payout. Also, there is a contigency reserve fund of about Rs 400 crore. So, with a little jugglery from one book to another, the minister will have enough to make employees happy and save his face. This will make for perfect politics too. With several state elections round the corner, it makes sense to keep the organised workforce — usually a politically influential group — in good humour. Even the finance ministry, which frowns at creative accounting
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