Focus on the Global South - India Programme

Trade and Finance

PRESS RELEASE: Indian People's Campaign Against WTO (IPCAWTO) 3 September 2009

Thursday, 10 September 2009 03:27 administrator

PRESS RELEASE, September 3, 2009
INDIAN PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST WTO (IPCAWTO)

Thousands of workers, farmers, women, students and youth marched against the WTO Ministerial meeting which started in New Delhi today. Farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, students and youth from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi and workers from Delhi participated in the protest march from Mandi House to Parliament Street. The protesters carried colourful banners and placards against the WTO and the UPA Government’s shifting positions in the Doha Round, which will adversely affect the interests of Indian people. The March was followed by a public
meeting at the Parliament Street.

The public meeting was presided over by S.P.Shukla, Convenor of the WTO Virodhi Abhiyan. Addressing the protesters, CPI General Secretary, A.B. Bardhan said that the UPA was bypassing the Parliament and betraying the election mandate which was clearly against the neoliberal policies that have caused acute distress to the masses. CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury questioned the very basis of the Indian Commerce Minister’s initiative to break the deadlock in the Doha Round, suggesting that it was being done under American pressure. The peasants and workers, who are suffering from drought, job losses and unprecedented price rise, will rise up against the Government if their interests will continue to be compromised in the WTO, he warned. Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the CPI(ML) Liberation called for countrywide mobilisations against the WTO dictated policies in the days to come. Farmer leader, Krishan Bir Chaudhary highlighted the pathetic plight of the Indian farmers under the WTO regime and castigated the Government for trying to push the Doha Round forward. Concluding the meeting, S.P.Shukla said that if the Government did not pay heed to the voice of the farmers and workers, a big resistance would be put up in India by the WTO Virodhi Abhiyan before the Ministerial Meeting
scheduled in November-December 2009 in Geneva.

Sd/-

S.P.Shukla
Convenor,
WTO VIRODHI BHARTIYA JAN ABHIYAN

Publication: India

Tuesday, 01 September 2009 04:51 administrator

Developing countries have plunged headlong into a complex web of hundreds of bilateral and regional trade agreements based on the same trade and investment liberalization agenda that they find deeply problematic at the WTO platform. India is a new comer to the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) game. Over 25 such agreements are either being implemented or at various stages of negotiation by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. This update is an attempt at mapping India’s contribution to the various FTA spaghetti strings that are criss-crossing Asia as well as other parts of the world. We have listed all the agreements India is engaged in with a short note on the state of play and provided more detail on six key FTAs.

To download the pdf copy click here

Sign-On : Open letter to UPA against reviving WTO Doha Round

Wednesday, 26 August 2009 04:30 Sonila Swaminathan

Dear Colleagues,

The Government of India will host a major meeting of WTO Trade Ministers in New Delhi from 3-4 September 2009. Trade Ministers representing the major groupings in the WTO (only some 35 countries have been invited) and WTO Chief Pascal Lamy will attend the closed door meeting. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma anticipates that the meeting will re-energise the stalled Doha Round and help build momentum towards the 7^th WTO Ministerial in Geneva in December 2009.

Please find pasted below and attached an open letter to the UPA Government that spells out the dangers of reviving the Doha talks at a time when the country is dealing with an agrarian and financial crisis coupled with huge job losses in the industrial sector.

Thousands of agriculture and labour activists are expected to mobilise in Delhi on September 3 and march to the Parliament to oppose the WTO talks. Those of you who can’t make it to Delhi can make your voice heard by signing the letter and faxing it to the Prime Minister’s office (011 - 23019545 / 011 - 23016857) or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If your organisation is in agreement with the contents of the letter, please write to Afsar Jafri at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the full name of your group/ organisation. This letter will be delivered to the offices of the Prime Minister, the UPA chairperson and Commerce Minister.

Please also forward to like-minded organisations and individuals

Best regards,

Afsar Jafri

CALL TO STOP CLOSED DOOR EU-INDIA FTA NEGOTIATIONS

Tuesday, 21 April 2009 05:56 Sonila Swaminathan

NO FTA WITHOUT PARLIAMENTARY APPROVAL

Dear All,

In June 2007, the European Union (EU) and the Government of India
started negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This new generation
FTA covers many areas other than trade in goods viz. trade in
services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition
policy, government procurement etc. Hence, these negotiations are
going to have far reaching consequences both for the policy space of
the Indian state and on the lives and livelihoods of Indian citizens.

IMMEDIATELY HALT EFTA FTA NEGOTIATIONS

Tuesday, 21 April 2009 04:53 Sonila Swaminathan

Statement of Concern from India
New Delhi, February 25, 2009

We, belonging to trade unions, people’s movements and civil society organisations express our opposition to the lack of transparency, public debate and democratic process surrounding the ongoing negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association, composed of, Lichtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland – EFTA-India FTA. While the 6th round of negotiations of the European Union-India FTA has been postponed, the EFTA-India negotiations continue. Little public attention has been given to them, but they present concerns very similar to those raised by the India-EU FTA. We are deeply concerned that this free trade framework will constrain India’s policy space and have adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts. As delegations gather for the third round of negotiations of the EFTA-India Summit in New Delhi from February 23 to 26, we call for a halt of the EFTA-India FTA negotiations until the following concerns are addressed.