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'Swadeshi' calls for cautious approach to Seattle

Swadeshi Jagran Manch co-convenor S Gurumurthy today urged the federal government to adopt a cautions approach at the Seattle negotiations in view of the developed nations' proposals for removal of quantitative restrictions on imports to the Third World countries and those on agricultural trade.

He said the Seattle round was a continuum of the Uruguay Round in 1986 and the Duncan Treaty in 1994, when the Indian government had recklessly negotiated, affecting the country's interests.

He said proposals relating to labour standards, child labour, terms of employment, environmental standards and unrestricted import of automobiles at 40 per cent duty, coming up during the Seattle negotiations, would harm the country's interests. No Indian car manufacturer would survive in the new regime, he added.

UNI

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