Just a few days before the start of the WTO Ministerial meeting in Doha, India asserted that it would oppose any attempt by developed countries to bring in new and extraneous issues including trade and investment.
Trade and investment and trade and competition which should not be brought into the ambit of WTO without fully studying their pros and cons "as we don`t want our country to become a graveyard of domestic industry", Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran said. He ruled out walking out from the ministerial conference in the face of confrontationist approach of developed countries and said India would rather stay part of WTO and fight for the cause of developing countries. How much India should give during the negotiations depended on how much it would be able to get, he said. Criticising the industrial nations for trying to exploit developing countries, Maran said any trade negotiations should be to the mutual advantage of all the 142 member countries. He expressed the confidence that many of the implementation issues of concern to developing countries will be resolved. Bureau Report