Home > Business > PTI > Report
'No fallout of Cancun talks on agri-sector'
September 18, 2003 14:21 IST
Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the failure of developing countries to secure any major concessions from the developed world on agricultural subsidies at the recently-concluded World Trade Organisation would not have any adverse fallout on the domestic sector.
The failure of the Cancun talks would have absolutely no impact on the country's agricultural sector, he told reporters on the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Crop Protection Conference, in New Delhi.
The minister said India had emerged as a leader of the developing nations and the developed world should now be wary of the country's strengths, as it had effectively thwarted the efforts of the developed nations to extract concessions.
"India is a huge market with a population of over 100 crore, therefore, the developed nations can hardly afford to ignore us," he added.
He also said there would be no impact on India's exports as a result of the Cancun meet.
R C A Jain, agriculture secretary, favoured a review of banned pesticides so that India did not become a dumping ground for such chemicals.
Jain said the government was encouraging environment-friendly approaches such as integrated pest management for crop protection with minimal use of chemicals.