Industry, Visas, Jobs, Indian Commerce Ministry and Agriculture Trade Offs in World Trade Organization Doha Talks :
Where does NASSCOM figure in Indian agricultural concessions ?
Kamal Nath Snaps at US H1B Comments -
The European countries have been putting pressure on President Bush, to somehow wave the magic wand, and "revive" Doha talks in WTO negotiations, as they do not like the rhetorical stances adopted by countries like Brazil and India.
They want Indian Indian brains and agricultural markets for their companies, but they do not want Indians coming, as anything other than rich tourists or Bollywood film makers.
The Indian politicians, with subtle persuasion by the Indian diaspora community, have been fiddling with the idea of Services versus Agriculture tradeoff, something that will benefit Indian diaspora, but will severly disrupt Indian agriculture and large sections of the people of the type who still live in the so called "jaggery" economy that many Indians with foreign commercial interests like to romanticize.
In this context it is interesting to note the comments of Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath. It is clear that only the Mittals are welcome, not the riff raff from Punjab who slurp jaggery with their unwashed and non disinfected dirty hands :
--Quote -
Toughening his stand on the United State's move to seek details from Indian companies, on workforce for alleged misuse of H-1B visas, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath cautioned that this would have an adverse impact on the rapidly expanding services trade.
The minister said it would be difficult for India to enhance its commitments in the services negotiations in the World Trade Organisation unless there is forward movement by trading partners like the US. "Services are an important component of the breakthrough in the current WTO negotiations and any move that vitiates current
progress will only frustrate progress in bringing the (Doha) round to a successful completion. I would like to assure Indian industry that India will not subscribe to any WTO conclusion without a satisfactory outcome in services," Nath asserted.
He said that he would raise this issue with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and at the G-4 meetings in Brussels starting Thursday.
The issue gained significance after two members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee (Sub-Committee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees) wrote to prominent Indian IT companies - including TCS, Infosys and Wipro - seeking details of their utilization of the H-1B programme.
"I am surprised both with the form and content of the letter. Issues such as work visas are inter-governmental in nature and should be dealt with accordingly. Temporary movement of skilled professionals is an essential component of the global services economy and bears no relation to immigration issues. Any move that creates uncertainty and unpredictability about such movements will naturally have an adverse
impact on the rapidly expanding services trade," Nath stated.
In recent years, India and the US have expanded their bilateral engagement in services trade to mutual advantage. The importance of knowledge-based services trade in the trade basket is a unique feature of India-US trade, the minister added.
"For quite some time now, we have been discussing with the US further liberalization of their regime for movement of skilled professionals, to facilitate further expansion of this trade. At this juncture, we would be extremely concerned if there are efforts to circumscribe the existing levels of liberalization in this area in the US."
1. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=ea3188ae-1933-4afd-81e1-a89d979dbeee&&Headline=India+snaps+at+America%27s+H-1B+visa+comments
- By Deepak Joshi and Gaurav Chaudhary in Hindustan Times
2. India Warns against Curbs on IT Sector - It will affect WTO negotiations according to Indian Commerce Minister Shri Kamal Nath by Sandeep Dikshit
http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/17/stories/2007051707760100.htm
One wonders if the teeth of Indian Commerce Ministry are for eating, biting or for display purposes ?
Haathi ke daant, dikhane ke aur khane ke ?
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