The WTO could not just be a trade forum and it had to keep development in mind, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Nirmala Sitharaman said in an exclusive interview with The Hindu on Friday. She was speaking about its 10th Ministerial meet in Nairobi in December.

On yuan devaluation, she said India was identifying sectors that would be immediately affected. On halting discussions on a free trade pact with the EU, she said some 700 generic drugs tested in India were taken off the shelves of member-countries.

‘WTO should work to the satisfaction of all members’

The WTO must use the interregnum between now and December, when its 10th Ministerial conference will be held in Nairobi, to attend to trade issues and fulfil its development agenda, the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries said.

Dr. Sitharaman, who spoke on a range of topics including the devaluation of the yuan, deferral of free trade talks with the European Union (EU) and matters of international trade, said the WTO could not just be a trade forum and it had to keep development in mind.

“It [the WTO] has to perform the role of speaking for all its members and ensure that certain [items on the] development agenda are also taken up and met with to the satisfaction of all its members,” Dr. Sitharaman said, adding that the time was especially significant for tackling issues related to LDCs (least developed countries) and development because the conference was being held for the first time in Africa.

The Doha Round of negotiations, launched in 2001, has been stalled for over seven years, because the advanced industrial countries and less developed countries have been unable to reach agreement on key issues, mainly related to agricultural subsidies.

In response to a question on what the proliferation of regional free trade agreements (FTAs) meant for India and the WTO, Dr. Sitharaman said the WTO was the best forum for negotiating and settling differences, adding, “India is committed to multilateralism. We wish and want the WTO, which is in its 20th year, to be a very relevant forum.”

Although the Doha Round came to a halt, countries have, with differing degrees of success, continued to push their trade goals via free trade agreements within smaller groups.

On the topic of India halting discussions on its free trade pact with the EU, Dr. Sitharaman said the present environment was not conducive to the talks, with some 700 generic drugs that were clinically tested by Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company GVK Biosciences, being taken off the shelves of the 28 EU member countries on Friday.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU’s drug regulation body, recommended the banning of these drugs in January, saying the underlying clinical testing data had been manipulated.

“From my side, I’d been keen to start this [making progress on the trade pact], get on with it, and crack those contentious issues, so the FTA can be signed,” Dr. Sitharaman said.

On the devaluation of the yuan, which saw China’s currency drop 3 per cent against the US dollar last week, Dr. Sitharaman said the government was monitoring the situation carefully, adding, “Before the two devaluations that happened in quick succession, there was also a [Chinese] stock market crash. This is in the context of the trade deficit with China increasing and increasing worryingly.”

The government was carefully monitoring the situation to assess which sectors would be immediately affected, and where most of the adverse impact would be felt from a cheaper yuan.

‘To protect steel industry’

Responding to a question on whether the government would impose anti-dumping duties for iron and steel imports from China, which had become cheaper as a result of the yuan devaluation, Dr. Sitharaman said the government was currently engaged in a process of dynamically monitoring the situation and had to take into account the interests of the integrated steel producers of India, whose output competed with cheaper Chinese steel and small and medium-sized manufacturers, who benefited from cheap steel as a raw material. Both sides have made representations to the government.

“I want to protect the steel industry. I do not want the dumped goods coming in and making their lives difficult,” Dr. Sitharaman said.

Intellectual Property policy

With regard to the final draft of the national Intellectual Property (IP) policy, Dr. Sitharaman said the draft was the subject of an inter-ministerial dialogue and comments from that had been collected and collated. A note is currently being prepared for the Cabinet’s consideration.