Developed nations trying to sidetrack WTO Doha Round: Sitharaman

It was a “major win” for Australian farmers because their livelihoods had been always been threatened by export subsidies in other countries, Trade Minister Andrew Robb said.

“This has been a primary goal for successive New Zealand Governments for decades”.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the members reached an agreement at the WTO’s latest ministerial talks in Nairobi on key issues related to the agriculture sector that had been a sticking point in the long-drawn Doha Development Agenda talks.

For these products, the governments of more developed markets have negotiated some leeway, if their governments have previously notified the WTO agriculture committee about the subsidies.

“Given the scale and significance of New Zealand’s agricultural export earnings, the removal of any instrument that can distort market forces and disadvantage our exporters is an important step forward”, says Federated Farmers National President Dr William Rolleston.

India opposes non-reaffirmation of DDA at Tenth Ministerial Conference of the WTO, Nairobi.

China agreed to support the African countries, which form the bulk of the 34 LDCs to hold a series of Roundtable discussions on major issues, among them, the future of the multilateral trading system.

Once in force, the agreement will update the WTO’s 18-year-old Information Technology Agreement and add the new products to the list of goods covered by zero-tariff and duty-free trade. “We need results for the Doha issues”.

The developed nations led by the U.S. even want the Doha Development Agenda scrapped.

Afghanistan’s membership came after formal approval by the WTO ministers in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Richard Baldwin, a professor of global economics at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, summed up the feeling on Twitter.

Iran is ready to kick off negotiations for joining the WTO, trade minister noted.

The 162-member body, meeting in Africa for the first time, said a deal had been reached on the issue of farm export subsidies, with developed nations expected to get rid of their subsidies starting now with developing nations to eliminate theirs from 2018.

The poor countries insist a timeline that considers the immediate lifting of the subsidized production of crops such as cotton, maize and other products, should be agreed at the Nairobi meeting.