By IANS,
New Delhi : Commerce minister Kamal Nath Monday said developing countries should forge ties in agri-business so they could jointly work on removing flaws resulting from heavy agriculture subsidies given by developed nations.
“Flaws arising out of subsidy have to be removed,” Kamal Nath said referring to the failure of the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks held in Geneva in July.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the Third India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Business Summit here.
In Geneva, Kamal Nath had said he could not negotiate the livelihood of millions of poor Indian farmers to prop the commercial interests of the US, which offers heavy subsidies to its farmers.
The minister had maintained that the US subsidised its agri-sector at the cost of developing countries.
“Bilateral trade and investment relations form the core of IBSA activities. Its joint leadership comes to the fore when all three partners zealously safeguard the interests of developing countries at the WTO talks,” he told IBSA business delegates.
The minister said there were huge opportunities in the fields of agriculture, mining, pharmaceutical, healthcare, bio-fuel and oil and gas, among other sectors. “We need to explore and do business,” he added.