India on Tuesday made it clear that any deal at the World Trade Organisation should be in favour of developing nations to make the current round of talks development-oriented, even as the European Union emphasised that its offer was a 'real sacrifice.'
"From developing countries perspective across all opinions, the Agreement of Agriculture was totally for developed countries and completely against the developing world. You (developed) cannot ask developing countries to pay for doing what you should not be doing," Commerce ministry additional secretary G K Pillai told a FICCI meeting in New Delhi.
He categorically said any give and take in the current Doha round of negotiations will have to be skewed in favour of developing countries, as Agreement of Agriculture under the Uruguay Round was nothing but empty promises.
Reponding to EU's demand for tariff reduction on industrial goods at the applied level, he said India and other developing countries should not be penalised for their autonomous liberalisation.
"We can't be penalised for autonomous liberalisation. Most developed countries tariffs have remained constant," he said, even as European Commission director general (trade) David O' Sullivan said EU had made a real offer on agriculture and wanted real market access non-agriculture market access and services.
"We have put a real offer, real sacrifice. WTO is not an altruistic organisation. We have to find a way, a compromise that reflects the values of the round that it was a fair deal," Sullivan said.
