Thailand recalls envoy to WTO after India protest: Govt official
“The whole issue appeared to be orchestrated with some of the developed countries seen to be behind it,” another official said.
ABU DHABI: Thailand has recalled its ambassador to WTO Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield after New Delhi lodged a strong protest about her comments about India using grains procured for its food security programme, a top govt official said on Friday.
In its edition on Thursday, TOI had reported about the spat which led to Indian officials boycotting some of the deliberations at the ministerial meeting, where a Thai representative was present.
While govt had also taken up the matter with Thailand, commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal spoken about the issue during his meetings with his American and European Union counterparts as well as UAE trade minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The Indian delegation was furious with the offensive tone of Pitfield’s intervention during a closed-door meeting on reforming farm trade, especially on providing flexibility for govt to procure foodgrains for the public distribution system. Besides, some of the representatives of the rich nations cheered the Thai ambassador’s statement, which officials said was factually incorrect as she accused govt of exporting 40% of the rice procured for PDS.
“The whole issue appeared to be orchestrated with some of the developed countries seen to be behind it,” another official said.
Some of the countries had made similar noises during meetings at WTO in Geneva, govt also saw it as an attempt to build a narrative on India flooding global markets with subsidized rice, which is not in line with global trade rules. India has been the largest rice exporter, with Thailand and Vietnam. Govt recently restricted non-basmati rice exports in a bid to cool down domestic prices.
India has been seeking a solution to the issue of subsidy cap, calculated on prices fixed at 1986-88 level, as it has breached the ceiling of 10% of value of production as the permitted level of support for procurement for its food programme. While a permanent “peace clause” prevents any dispute at WTO, New Delhi wants the issue to be resolved at the earliest.