THE SENIOR ANALYST
almost $1 trillion. Transit documents regarding
export and import will be simplified which would
result in a marvelous increase in the exports of
developing countries by $570 billion and of
developed countries by $475 billion. It would also
create 18 million jobs in developing countries and
3 million in developed nations. Another
important deal worth mentioning is the improved
and increased market access for cotton products
from the LDCs. Assistance will be provided in
LDCs to promote the production of cotton in
those countries. Paraphrasing the view of US
president Barack Obama, small businesses will be
among the greatest beneficiaries of the Bali
package as they currently suffer from high costs
of entering a complicated global trade
framework. Last but definitely not the least, a
monitoring and supervisory mechanism has been
put in place to bring the preferential treatment
being given to developing nations under the
hawk-eyed surveillance of the WTO.
In further agreements under the purview of
WTO’s job as a negotiation and dispute
settlement forum, some notable deals were
made. Members agreed on not charging any
import duties on electronic transmissions. They
also shook hands on the arrangement of issues of
small economies being special consideration. Aid
for Trade, an initiative supposed to help
developing countries will see a renewed and
reenergized will and effort from WTO.
The much awaited success after many failed
and collapsed attempts to build consensus can be
attributed to the fact the all the three sections in
the world- the developed countries, the
developing countries and the least developed
countries (LDCs) were give adequate attention
that they needed and demanded. The three
sections have diverse needs and demands. Trade
facilitation which was a demand of the developed
nation and food security issues demanded by
developing
nations,
were
taken
up
Jan 2014
simultaneously at the World Trade Organization's
ministerial meeting. Many a times, the
developing nations had tried to voice their
concerns but this time the concerns were heeded
to in the truest and the most profound sense. G33 had proposed amendments in Agreement on
Agriculture with provisions that any procurement
from poor farmers to support them or to fight
hunger should not be included under WTOrestricted subsidies. WTO Norms clearly stipulate
that countries can use up to a maximum of ten
percent of the farm output as subsidies. India had
the stance of providing more subsidies than the
stipulated limit of ten percent as Indian
legislation has recently passed the National food
security bill that provides food grains to almost
700 million people. The implementation of this
legislation, in turn, requires stockpiling of grains
and heavy subsidies. US and Canada had raised
concerns over India’s demand of increasing the
subsidy limit with regard to its impact on global
commodity prices and subsequent effect on other
grains exporting nations. USA and India were