Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

14-December-2011 17:11 IST

At their Summit held in Cannes, France on 3-4 November 2011, the G20 group of countries, including India, agreed, inter alia, to remove food export restrictions or extraordinary taxes for food purchased for non-commercial humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme and agreed not to impose them in the future. They also encouraged the adoption of a Declaration by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the Ministerial Conference in December 2011.

In the WTO, India has taken the stand that the policy space available under the relevant WTO agreements that allows countries to take care of their domestic concerns, must not be curtailed in any manner.

This information was given by Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Minister of State for Commerce& Industry and Textiles in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

DS/GK

Food export restrictions: lift humanitarian export controls for UN purchases while preserving WTO-consistent national policy space. Agreement committed to removing food export restrictions and extraordinary export taxes on food procured for non-commercial humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme and to refrain from imposing such measures in future, while India emphasised that WTO-consistent policy space to address domestic concerns must be preserved.