The G-20 Ministerial meeting in the capital came out to be quite fruitful for the member countries in general and India in particular. They were unanimous in their decision to set a five-year deadline for the developed countries to eliminate export subsidies particularly in the agriculture sector.

If implemented early this will indeed give a new impetus to the agriculture negotiations and help to make progress in other sectors too.

Another aspect which I found India did well to mention in the summit was the assertion on the Gateway Issue of conversion of tariff reduction from the specific to ad volorem duties.

This will mean that the developed countries must now shift their tariff valuations from the specific to ad volorem when it comes to the issue of Market Access. And without a doubt in my mind I can say that once this is brought into action will help the exim community in more ways than one.

It was a good move by the Commerce Ministry to mention the issue of Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA) and Services during the summit.

However here the G-20 has to be careful that it is not put into an unsustainable position where it will be compelled to accept a mediocre agreement or risk being seen as responsible for another failed Ministerial conference.

Moreover, the G-20 countries had earlier given major concessions in the July Framework Agreement to the developed countries in the area of domestic support but are yet to receive anything in return from these rich countries. So I feel that while pushing for the changes, the G-20 has to maintain a rationale and also stand united in their cause.