India backed out from giving its consent to Trade Facilitation Agreement in what would
have been a historic trade deal at World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva
last week.
Simplifying worldwide
customs rules to facilitate global trade is at the core of this newly proposed
trade agreement which had been mutually agreed on a ‘peace clause’ in last
year’s WTO meeting and was widely expected to be a ‘done deal’ this year.
India, however, did not
agree on the deal, citing WTO’s inability to respond positively to the
country’s call for stockpiling food.
In an interview with
NDTV on Monday, Arun Jaitley, India’s Finance Minister, justified the
government’s decision saying, “The fact of the matter is there have been many
instances in history where India has been forced to raise its voice against the
powerful nations.”
“Our farmers will be
reduced to starvation and suicide. We can't be a party to that. If we did not
have the (measures) this few hundred suicides that you hear of would be in
lakhs (hundreds of thousands).”
John Kerry, the US
secretary of State, has been critical of India’s decision over the issue and
put a question mark on India’s approach to free economy.
For a deal to be
struck, WTO needs an agreement among its 160 members. This new trade agreement
would reportedly contribute $1 trillion to the global economy, creating 21
million jobs in the process worldwide.
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