India Holds Nerves To Have Its Way.

By his own admission, getting a favourable deal in Bali has not been easy. "We withstood pressure and didn't blink," said a relaxed Anand Sharma, commerce & industry minister, after managing to have his way at WTO.



While negotiations are always difficult, the last 48 hours were particularly testing for Sharma and his team. It all began with back-to-back meetings on Wednesday evening after it became clear that India was not going to blink on its demand on food subsidy and made its displeasure clear during the plenary session through a strongly-worded message, rejecting the offers on the table.



Sharma first spent some time with Indonesian trade minister Gita Wirjawan, chairman of the ministerial conference. By then, Indonesia, which was a key proponent of the plan, had jumped the ship to make a success of the ministerial, leaving Brazil and South Africa as major allies for India. Next came a meeting between WTO director general Roberto Azevedo and trade ministers from India, Brazil, and South Africa. By then it was slowly emerging that even Brazil wasn't pursuing the demand on food subsidy with the same vigor.



So, Sharma now spent some time with Azevedo, who he had met before the start of the ministerial meeting. India once again reiterated its stance. Then for the next 20 hours there was no word from WTO DG or Wirjawan, who spent the time trying to get the US to soften its position.



On Thursday evening, Sharma and his team returned to meet the WTO boss and the Indonesian trade minister in their offices in Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center. Here, sources told TOI, the duo offered a new language, which was turned down as there was no change in the stance.



Just when Sharma was settling for the evening, wrapping up dinner, he received a call, asking him to return. So, the Indian negotiators returned around 11 PM, but none of the officials were allowed to accompany Sharma when he met Azevedo, Wirjawan and US Trade Representative Michael Froman. Although Sharma and Froman have known each other for years, this was the first time they were meeting since they landed in Bali. They had met just once before and merely shook hands.



Over the next 100 minutes, things didn't move. "It was essentially the same text with some variation," said an official. Back in the hotel, Sharma and the negotiators prepared their wish list and Jayant Dasgupta, India's ambassador to WTO, returned with the government's message at 2.30 AM. It wasn't until 3.30 in the morning that India's 25-odd negotiators returned to their rooms.



"It's a war of nerves," Sharma said later. Although he had been updating PM Manmohan Singh on the progress daily, the first thing that the minister did on Friday was to dial his boss to get a political clearance, and followed it up with another call in the afternoon. It wasn't until 11 AM that things began to swing India's way and by 4 PM it was clear. During these five hours, the government is also learnt to have got the cabinet to endorse the deal when it met to condole apartheid hero Nelson Mandela's death.



The government on Friday said the WTO's new agreement on trade facilitation is expected to help reduce transaction cost for Indian exporters, besides simplifying rules for traders sending consignments to developed countries.



With the agreement proposing increased use of electronic payment tools, the government will need to make its electronic data interchange and electronic bank realization certificate (eBRC) platforms more efficient, and virtually doing away with the need for traders to visit bank branches or DGFT offices.



But, the real gains are expected in removal of hurdles that Indian exporters often face in tightly regulated markets such as the European Union. Often, authorities seize a consignment of basmati rice or peanuts at one of the ports and an alert is sent to all ports, affecting all such cargo from India. With the new trade facilitation agreement, the rapid alert mechanism in EU will have to be reworked.



Similarly, when it comes to shipments that have been confiscated by authorities due to lack of compliance with local norms, exporters will now have the option of getting the rejected consignments back so that they can be exported to a market where they comply with the rules.



Officials pointed out that there were other gains too. For instance, European countries follow different customs procedures at ports, causing tremendous hardship to plant and animal products. But, with an agreement on trade facilitation in place, common rules have to be put in place.



Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com