Key Points
Thailand's ambassador. to WTO Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield, accusing India of using 'subsidised' rice procured for the. public distribution system. for capturing the export market, has created a diplomatic storm with govt lodging a strong protest and Indian negotiators refusing to participate in some deliberations in groups where a representative from the southeast Asian country is present.. The Thai ambassador's comment on Tuesday during a consultation meeting was cheered by some representatives of rich nations, angering the Indian delegation here.. Thailand is seen to be fronting for the US, European Union, Canada and Australia, among others, which have blocked a permanent solution to public stockholding for over a decade...
Officials said a strong protest has been lodged with the Thai govt and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal took up the matter with USTR Catherine Tai and EU executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, making it clear that the language and behaviour were unacceptable...
In recent years, the share of Indian rice in the global market has gone up and the recent export curbs have angered western nations..
Developed countries have been trying to paint a picture that India was distorting global trade by selling subsidised foodgrain in the international market, which was not the case.. On the contrary, officials pointed out that the rules were framed in a way that the terms of trade favoured rich nations with the reference price for calculation of subsidy fixed at the 1986-88 level..
As per the flawed formula, India ends up breaching the prescribed ceiling of 10% of value of production in case of rice but cannot be dragged to WTO for violation of global rules as member nations had agreed to avoid any disputes till a new formula was worked out..
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