‘India to protect agriculture, dairy sectors while negotiating FTAs’

New Delhi’s stand has been consistent and clearly articulated in all multilateral and bilateral fora for a developing and populous country like India; The officials, requesting anonymity, said the food security of the underprivileged is paramount as is protecting the interests of the three sectors.

“India is committed to protecting its agriculture sector. This was evident from the Prime Minister’s last-minute decision to exit the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on 4 November 2019, although it was one of the largest trade blocs,” said one of the two officials.

“Whether free trade agreements (FTAs) are negotiated with individual countries or in the WTO, the government will put Indian interests first. Some sectors like public procurement for food security, agriculture, dairy and fisheries are sensitive and the government will not compromise on this at any cost.

New Delhi pulled out of RCEP as it realized the deal could flood the Indian market with Chinese goods at the expense of local industry, while cheap imports of milk derivatives from Australia and New Zealand were detrimental to the health of India’s dairy industry. Will happen. she added.

RCEP covers 30% of the world’s population, contributes $25.8 trillion, or about 30% of global GDP, and is responsible for a little over $12.7 trillion, or a quarter of global goods and services trade. The 10-member RCEP comprises Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The second official said that the fears that the FTA is in talks with Australia on the import of dairy and agricultural products are misplaced. “It is clarified that the talks are solely focused on mutually beneficial items of trade, and India has not made any offer to Australia in these (dairy or agriculture) sectors,” the official said.

The officials were reacting on Saturday to a tweet by Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of the Indian Farmers’ Union, alleging that India would sign a deal with Australia, which would allow the import of milk. 20-22 per liter, much less than the retail price of locally produced milk, but 50-60 per liter.

“There is no proposal for any duty concession under consideration of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying on import of dairy products into India with Australia,” Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Purushottam Rupala said in a tweet in Hindi. on Tuesday.

“With respect to dairy, India has already opened up some sub-sectors in goods trade agreements with ASEAN and comprehensive agreements with Japan and Korea. However, Indian companies are not able to export to major markets such as the UK, EU and Australia, and face almost entry restrictions as they are not able to meet the export requirements,” said Arpita Mukherjee, Professor, Indian Council. For Research on International Economic Relations. “India has a strong lobby, which is against reducing tariffs through trade agreements on imports from UK, EU, Australia. However, this is not the view of all companies that use dairy as an ingredient in processing. , and would like to have a lower duty on materials for processing in this area,” she added.