India wants permanent protection for grain procurement programme in WTO

On Monday, February 26, when the agitating farmers on the border of Punjab and Haryana were demanding India to leave WTO on the support price issue, negotiators were restlessly changing aspects in the closed meetings in Abu Dhabi. India does not want any restrictions in purchasing grains from farmers for food security. About 80 countries are supporting India’s stand. The stand is aggressive and this has lead to increased uneasiness.

It should be recalled that India had got the credit for saving the Geneva meet in 2022 from collapse The conflict point then was about reducing subsidy on fishing. The Indian team, led by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, made significant gains for developing countries with China also falling in line.

At the Abu Dhabi meeting, India wants changes in WTO rules on support price and subsidy for grain reserves so that maximum amount of grain can be purchased from farmers. To liberalise food security conditions, India is leading the G33 group in WTO which includes 80 countries, 61 percent of the world’s population lives in these countries.

The issue of fishing in distant seas is also controversial. India wants big countries to stop fishing outside their Exclusive Economic Zone and ban subsidies for at least 25 years.

It is not a coincidence that on Monday, just before the WTO meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to build the world’s largest grain store in India. This message is directed at WTO. From the preparations and informal discussions, it is clear that the Indian negotiating team will not be in a position to compromise on the issue of food security.

India’s argument is clear that developed countries are not agreeing on the storage of agricultural grains which has been postponed for 11 years.  Investments on their preferences are bringing non-trade issues which is not acceptable.

There is no concrete hope of consensus in the meeting yet. In the light of the conflict in Geneva, the negotiators have also made a lot of preparations. There is a possibility of tough bargaining here. Usually, the picture becomes clearer only on the last day of WTO talks.

WTO ministerial meetings, which are almost three decades old, are notorious for having more differences than consensus. Amidst the war in two parts of the world and elections in about 60 countries, there are many who believe that only if India wishes, any major result will come out of Abu Dhabi.