New Delhi (Sputnik) – India and China are poised to play the rabble-rouser during the upcoming WTO Summit. The two countries have intensified lobbying among other countries in order to garner maximum support for their proposal that seeks to end the trend of farm subsidies in developed countries of the west. Argentina that is preparing to host this year’s WTO Ministerial Conference in December, has warned that the India-China move could derail the talks.
The proposed law calls for the elimination of agricultural subsidies to the tune of around $160 billion in the US, the EU, Japan, Canada, Norway and Switzerland at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December this year.
“It is discriminatory to the core. The Indian farmer is getting poorer in the WTO regime while western farmers are thriving on the resources of the state provided to them in the form of subsidies. The livelihood of the poor farmers of developing countries is unable to compete with the state-supported farm business of the west,” agricultural expert Vijay Sardana told Sputnik.
Experts are of the opinion that the struggle to give a level playing to the farmers of the developing nations would get a bigger boost if other countries of the BRICS bloc, especially Russia support the move.
“The reports of India and China garnering the support of more than 100 countries is good but more important countries like Russia need to stand along with China and India to counter the western adamancy on the issue of farm subsidies” he added.
