NU appreciates Indian tough stand in Bali WTO meeting

Jakarta, NU Online
Ahead of the closing of the 9th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Bali, Indonesia, that proposes 10 points to be agreed, it seems to get stuck when talking about food reserves or rather the amount of subsidy and the period of validity of the agreement.<>

In this case, India has taken brilliant measures in defense of the interests of the poor and at the same time positined itself as one of the developing countries.

On the occasion, the initial draft offered by developed countries was 10 percent with a reference price of 2008.

On the other hand, India proposed 15 percent subsidy and a perpetual term. The Indian stand was asserted by Anand Sharma at the Bali meeting that the food supply is not negotiable because it involves the interest of a country to feed its people.

The U.S. compromise offering a 15 percent rate and the validity period o four years were rejected by India for it is not negotiable. The Indian strong and consistent stand was the same as that taken by Kamal Nath who made the Doha Round deadlock last few years because of his statement : "I'm not risking for the livelihood of millions of farmers." 

On account of the Indian consistent stand, NU the country's largest Muslim organization mostly consisting of millions of farmers greatly appreciated India for taking tough stand of food subsidy at the Bali meeting.

"That (stand) should ideally be taken by a leader in ensuring the interests of his people,"  Chairman of NU Prof Dr Maksum Mahfudh told NU Online here on Friday.

He said that, NU really deplored the Indonesian stand represented by the Minister of Commerce , for being opposed to India in protecting the farmers' interests and food sovereignty.

Reporting by Mukafi Niam; Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq