India could put a landmark World Trade Organisation deal in jeopardy at hectic negotiations in Geneva after saying that it would withhold support for the agreement unless there was simultaneous progress on resolving a dispute over its food security programme.
India would like the WTO – which set itself a deadline of July 31 for the deal on the movement of goods across borders – to address its concerns over a cap on subsidies that could limit government stocks of grain that are part of its food programme.A meeting of the General Council, the WTO’s highest non-ministerial decision-making body, was suspended Thursday because of a lack of consensus. A group of 25 member states, including Australia, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and Thailand, issued a statement saying they were “dismayed” by the failure to reach an agreement. “A decision to step away would be in no one’s interest,” the statement said.