India to attend WTO meet

NEW DELHI, JULY 12: Changing India's earlier formal stand on the subject, Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde today indicated India's wil...

NEW DELHI, JULY 12: Changing India’s earlier formal stand on the subject, Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde today indicated India’s willingness to take part in a new round of trade talks at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle in November-December, provided its interests are safeguarded.

Hegde said at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) here today, "I will not say what stand India will take. But I want to make it clear that as long as our interests are safeguarded we are prepared to welcome any future changes and take further steps."

As reported earlier in this newspaper, Hegde has been trying subtly to change India’s earlier rigid opposition to a new trade round in recognition that new talks are likely to happen regardless of India’s opposition.

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Today the minister indicated unambiguously that India would not oppose talks per se if its concerns were safeguarded. India had earlier been saying that it would not agree to any fresh negotiations at the WTO ministerialmeeting apart from the carry-over agenda of the Uruguay Round.

The minister said India had to be prepared to face developed countries’ tactics in Seattle. "For this as I have suggested in various international conferences, developing and least developed countries should take a united stand to protest their interests against indirect measures proposed to be taken by developed countries," he said.