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EC trade official to underline India's role in global trade

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

Social and developmental issues, along with trade, will dominate the agenda when the "trade minister" of the European Commission, Pascal Lamy, visits India in early 2000.

Lamy was nominated in October as Trade Commissioner by EC's president Romano Prodi. Soon after, Lamy said he wanted to visit India.

Members of the Lamy's 'Cabinet' told rediff.com in Brussels recently that for Lamy, a country like India came very high on the agenda. ``We are watching very closely the progress of the Indian economy and the reform programme of the government. Although there is a general feeling that India could do better, we have to respond by helping India in this strategic issue. For, if India fails, everyone across the globe will be in trouble. It is too important a country to be ignored,'' a senior member of the Lamy Cabinet told rediff.com.

Lamy is reportedly convinced that the bilateral relationship between India and the European Union needs to go beyond the tit-for-tat approach and there has to be a strong political support for the Indian programme in order to ensure that India and its people move on to a higher level of development.

Lamy would interact with his counterparts in the Indian government, social and economic operators, leading non-government organisations, trade unions, business leaders and other members of the society.

Lamy is also reportedly with India on the issue of global trade's effect on the developing economies. ``We have to seriously look at the Indian demand regarding under-implementation of the trade commitments by the developed world. It is true that the Uruguay Round has not done enough for the developing economies. This is a demand that we need to consider seriously in a way that goes beyond trade rounds. It has much more to do with the entire developmental approach, including the social and environmental progress,'' says a top member of the Lamy Cabinet.

Lamy has also spoken out openly against the approach of some developed nations, especially the United States, on labour and environment standards for the developing countries. The US President Bill Clinton created a furore during the Seattle Ministerial Conference earlier this month when he proposed sanctions against the developing countries not implementing labour and environment standards.

``We rule out sanctions. It is naive and patronising for the developed world to talk in these terms. We believe in a dialogue with countries like India to implement these standards solely on their merit. We know it can not be done overnight and we are not afraid of low-wage economies,'' says a member of the Lamy Cabinet.

Lamy believes that the developed world has much more to gain from the development of the developing countries and hence advocates a far better market access for the exports of the developing countries.

UNI

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