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Agriculture Market Access after Cancun |
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The
Draft Cancun Ministerial Text, or Derbez Text, leaned heavily on the
joint EC-US framework paper on Agriculture which argued for a formula
approach with respect to market access pillar. The main objective of
this study is to simulate results based on alternate formula submitted
to the WTO. Our results show that the developing countries are being
squeezed to provide better market access to the developed countries’
agricultural produce. For example, India will have to reduce her average
bound tariff in agriculture anywhere in the range 45-83 per cent
depending on the blended combination of the formula (suggested for core
modality) and the chosen value of "B" coefficient (for the
Swiss element) in the blend formula. A draft paper was first presented
at a conference organized by Centre for SAARC Studies, Andhra
University, on 27-28 March 2004 in Vishakapatnam in collaboration with
RIS. A revised version will be issued in Discussion Paper Series.
Research Team: Dr. Rajesh Mehta and Dr. J. George |