At a closed-door plurilateral negotiating session to discuss what select countries like India, Brazil, South Africa are prepared to do in distribution services, India told the United States and the European Union that barring commission agents and wholesale services, New Delhi will not table any new offer on distribution services, Deccan Herald was told.

The two trans-Atlantic partners launched a concerted drive to force many developing countries to open distribution services to ensure that their wholesale companies like Wal-Mart and Carrefour among others secured a foothold.

India asked whether the US’ and the EU’ distribution services giants which are big monopolies in a their own territories are violating WTO rules, trade diplomats said.

Clarifying concerns
During the meeting on distribution services, Brazil and South Africa took the US and the EU to task for trying to squeeze commitments on opening their markets for the trans-Atlantic companies.

Apparently, the US and the EU asked the two developing countries to answer a set of questions which amounted to revealing and accepting certain commitments, said a trade diplomat, arguing that such a demand is “unacceptable.” The developing countries told the two biggest players at WTO that the plurilateral negotiations is all about clarifying the concerns of demanders but not for spelling of individual commitments.

Meanwhile, key members of World Trade Organisation have tentatively signalled to the Chair for Doha services trade negotiations Ambassador Fernando de Mateo to prepare a draft text by capturing the need for high level of ambition as well as the degree of progress both in market access and rules-related areas of services talks.

At an enchilada meeting convened by the chair to finalise the way-forward in the services negotiations last week, Ambassador Mateo said he will not seek any change in the Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration despite a concerted move by the United States, the European Union, Japan and Canada which pressed for wholesale changes. Industrialised countries have consistently opposed Annex C on the ground it weakened market access commitments but joined consensus at Hong Kong to ensure that the meeting did not fall apart, said one trade diplomat.

But trade envoys of developing countries from  South Africa , Brazil, India, Malaysia, Philippines and China said while they are prepared for higher ambition in the final outcome in services they would not allow any change in Annex C. India’s ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia said “Annex C is the anchor for the outcome in services.”

Further, the draft not suggest any linkages between the market access for farm products and industrials on the one side and the services on the other because of divisions among key members, services diplomats said.