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EU minister coming to enlist India's support for WTO talks

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

European Union's 'Trade Minister' Pascal Lamy arrives in Bombay on Thursday for a week-long visit to India in his bid to enlist India's support for the EU effort for launching a broader new round of negotiations under the World Trade Organisation.

Despite the fiasco at the Seattle Ministerial Conference in December last year, the European Union has not given up the hopes of relaunching a broader round, in addition to the negotiations on agriculture and services that are set to start in Geneva.

Led by Trade Commissioner Lamy, the EU has already initiated a serious round of shuttle diplomacy in their bid to convince the strong opponents that it is in their interest to agree to the round.

Lamy is not deterred by the strong comments that Indian Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran has been making since the Seattle failure. In fact, the Europeans concede that the Indian position now is perhaps even harder than ever before. ``But this could be a tactical retreat more than anything else,'' is how the Europeans explain it.

``The new round is his priority number one,'' says John Clarke, the new round coordinator at the European Commission.

An important item on his agenda is the meeting of Indian industry captains at the Confederation of Indian Industry summit in New Delhi on March 6. Even at this meeting, the new round will be the main issue.

The EC believes that the Indian industry is more open than the government to the inclusion of issues like investment and competition at the WTO negotiations. Hence Lamy will use this occasion to drum up support within the Indian industry for his battle.

He hopes to use the momentum of the CII meeting for his marathon talks with Murasoli Maran, where, besides WTO issues, several bilateral trade matters will also be discussed.

But Lamy's agenda will not be restricted to the trade issues. Ever since he took over the job in October last, Lamy has expressed a deep desire to visit India.

``This is a contact visit. He wants to make contact not just with the Indian government and the industry but also other parts of the Indian society -- the non governmental organisations and the civil society,'' says a Lamy aide.

The financial wizard who stepped in as the chief executive to turn around Credit Lyonnais -- the French bank that was steeped in losses of billions of dollars -- Lamy will begin his visit to India from Bombay, the country's financial hub. He has a meeting with Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan and will also visit the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In Delhi, Lamy will also meet Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. He will also call upon Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Lamy will also address the students of the Indian Institute for Foreign Trade in New Delhi and also have a meeting with various non-governmental organisations.

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