The Economic Times
SHANTINIKETAN(WB):
NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul on Thursday said G8 countries should abolish
subsidies to their farmers in order to stop undermining the interests of farmers
in developing countries like India.
"We are of the opinion that
the G8 countries should do away with subsidies to their farmers," Lord Paul, who
is heading a four-member delegation of the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association to this university township, said here.
Reluctance to reduce, much
less abolish subsidies by countries has become an obstacle to reaching a global
trade agreement as part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
In 2005, the United Nations
Human Development Report had said that the basic problem to be addressed in the
WTO negotiations on agriculture can be summarised in three words: "Rich country
subsidies."
Although the rich
countries (G8 members Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and
the US) had promised to cut farm concessions at the Doha round of WTO talks
launched in 2001, subsidies have since steadily grown, the UNHDR has noted.
Lord Paul, whose Caparo group
is setting up a plant in Singur to supply components to Tata Motors' Nano, said
he was in West
Bengal to see how the state could be brought closer to the UK.
The ties should include culture, besides trade and investment.
"We would like to see India
prosper. West Bengal has a good agricultural base and we would like to support
it," he said.
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