Friday, November 11 2005 09:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tel Aviv: Suggesting to 'calibrate expectations' from the WTO ministerial summit in Hong Kong next month, Minister of Commerce, Kamal Nath, has projected bleak chances of its success.

Calling for creating a level playing ground in order to reach the kind of broader consensus WTO desires, Nath has ruled out any compromise on the part of India 'for which agriculture is not commerce'.

"Though we are the largest producer of milk, the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables but it is not commerce for India. There are 650 million farmers with one to one and a half hectare farm compared to the big ranches in the developed countries", the minister told reporters here on the sidelines of Prime Minister's Conference.

"So what we, along with other countries, have said is that the huge subsidies given by the developed countries, which creates an artificiality in prices, is not what a level playing field is", he said.

Emphasising that the WTO is not only about free trade, but it is also about fair play, Nath said that there cannot be any fairness in trade when we find the developed countries giving subsidies to their farmers of one billion dollars a day.

"What we along with other developing countries are saying in the WTO is that there has to be a elimination of these trade distortions", the commerce minister asserted.

He ruled out any possibility of the success of the summit unless the issues concerning the least developed countries, the developing countries, the African countries are resolved.

When asked about the recent EU initiative to diffuse the crisis, Nath said that 'it is a step forward' but it has been tagged.

"They have asked for a price for it. The price is like you give an inch and ask for a mile", he said.

The U.S. and the EU have offered to lower border duties on farm commodities and reduce agriculture spending provided progress is made in the wider WTO talks.

They also want more opportunities for foreign investors and lower levies on industrial goods ranging from car components to computer chips.

"We will do proportionately to what the developed countries or the EU does in industrial goods. We will do on the principle of less than full reciprocity but what the EU has said is that you do hundred and we will do 30. They will do one-third while it should have been the other way", Nath said in reply to a question.