Incheon / New Delhi, May 03 (Hindustan Times). Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is on a four-day official visit to South Korea, said the World Trade Organization (WTO) needs to look at the issue of food subsidy with an open mind. He said that this is because of the Corona pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, which affects the needs of food security in emerging economies.
Sitharaman was addressing a seminar organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on ‘Policies to support Asia’s recovery’ on Wednesday. The Finance Minister said that subsidies for agriculture and poor farmers in developing countries were ignored. He said that food and fertilizer security has become important in the context of Corona and Russia-Ukraine war.
The Finance Minister further said that the sooner WTO finds a solution, the better it will be for the world. He said that we all have to talk about food and fertilizer security again in WTO with an open mind. Sitharaman said that food security is better in developed countries than in developing countries. He said that the trade agreements have become one-sided, for which a solution has to be found.
Under global trade rules, the food subsidy bill of WTO member countries should not exceed a limit of 10 per cent of production value based on the 1986-88 reference price. WTO member countries agreed to create an arrangement as an interim measure, known as a peace clause, at a meeting held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2013. Along with this, commitment was made to negotiate a permanent solution to the matter. However, India has called for measures such as modification of the formula for estimating food subsidy limits as a permanent solution.
