India forms coalition of eight nations on NAMA

Hong Kong, Wednesday (PTI) Mounting pressure on developed countries, India on Monday formed a core group with seven other developing countries on industrial tariffs to ensure that the principle of "less than full reciprocity" is fully reflected in any deal at the WTO Ministerial, which kicked off yesterday.

"We want our concerns to be taken on board. Market access is not an issue of tariffs alone. Market access for India means elimination of tariff peaks and tariff escalation in developed country markets as also end of abuse of anti-dumping laws and removal of non-tariff barriers used to block goods from developing nations," Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, said.

Criticising the EU proposal on Non-Agriculture Market Access, Nath said the formula in itself was not important, but what it actually translated into in real terms.

The Group, which is co-chaired by India and South Africa, includes Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Namibia, Venezuela and Egypt with more expected to join, he said.

The alliance had also written a letter to the Chairman of sixth Ministerial conference John Tsang, pointing out that the draft text had not adequately reflected the three elements of "less than full reciprocity, special and differential treatment and non-tariff barriers," he added.

"Less than full reciprocity" means developing countries would have proportionately lower reduction commitments than developed nations like the US and the EU.