This was despite the general welcome it gave to chairman of the committee on agriculture Stuart Harbinson’s draft proposal, circulated on Friday, that the Third World can gradually cut customs duty on farm products over a period and continue state subsidy and extraordinary support. The draft has come in for praise from the Third World but a jolt to many developed nations, including Japan and the EU.

Trade and commerce minister Arun Jaitley told the forum that New Delhi continues to have reservations on market access suggestions made in the first draft modalities paper by Mr Harbinson.

“Safeguarding the interests of farmers — specially the marginal and resource poor farmers - will be the paramount consideration governing New Delhi’s approach to the farm talks at WTO,” he said, adding 650 million Indians depend on it for their livelihood.

However, Mr Jaitley said the first draft modalities appear to have taken into account the problems expressed by the Third World in the agri-sector by proposing retention of special and differential treatments, de minimus level at 10 per cent and new flexibility for maintaining domestic production capacity for food security.

The Harbinson draft, though dubbed as “US centric”, was seen as addressing some of long-standing objections from the Third World in opening up the industrialised nations’ farm sector to their exports.

The developing countries consider the latest draft as an important document as it has attempted to take on board the differing views of three major trading blocks - the Cairns, the EU and the developing countries - over the contentious issue of market access in the farm sector. (PTI)