India on Thursday suggested a midway solution out of the impasse at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the WTO unambiguously state that till it found a permanent way to correct its subsidy rules for agriculture, the interim protection for India’s minimum support prices (MSPs) for farmers would last.
Later, on his part, Mr. Kerry said at a press conference that a compromise was still possible at the WTO, but stressed that progress was still to be made. India cannot put to risk the livelihoods of its poor farmers, Mr. Jaitley told the U.S. delegation. India wants the WTO caps that its MSPs risk breaching as they are benchmarked to food prices in the 1980s.
The WTO Ministers last December agreed in Bali to take up a work programme for a permanent solution, provided an interim peace clause and also agreed to sign a Trade Facilitation Agreement by July 31.
