ABU DHABI: A remark by Thailand’s ambassador to WTO Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield, accusing India of utilizing ‘subsidised’ rice procured for the public distribution system for capturing the export market, has created a diplomatic storm with govt lodging a robust protest and Indian negotiators refusing to take part in some deliberations in teams the place a consultant from the southeast Asian nation is current.
The Thai ambassador’s touch upon Tuesday throughout a session assembly was cheered by some representatives of wealthy nations, angering the Indian delegation right here.

Thailand is seen to be fronting for the US, European Union, Canada and Australia, amongst others, which have blocked a everlasting answer to public stockholding for over a decade.

Officials stated a robust protest has been lodged with the Thai govt and commerce and trade minister Piyush Goyal took up the matter with USTR Catherine Tai and EU govt vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, making it clear that the language and behavior have been unacceptable.

Govt officers advised TOI that the Thai ambassador had received all her details mistaken as solely round 40% of the produce is procured by govt to fulfill meals safety obligations. Part of the remaining amount, which isn’t procured by govt companies, is exported from India at market worth.

‘Terms of trade favour rich nations’
In latest years, the share of Indian rice within the international market has gone up and the latest export curbs have angered western nations. Developed international locations have been attempting to color an image that India was distorting international commerce by promoting subsidised foodgrain within the worldwide market, which was not the case.
On the opposite, officers identified that the foundations have been framed in a approach that the phrases of commerce favoured wealthy nations with the reference worth for calculation of subsidy mounted on the 1986-88 stage. This meant that any worth provided above Rs 3.20 a kg of wheat was handled as subsidy.
As per the “flawed formula”, India finally ends up breaching the prescribed ceiling of 10% of worth of manufacturing in case of rice however can’t be dragged to WTO for violation of worldwide guidelines as member nations had agreed to keep away from any disputes until a brand new formulation was labored out. But that was greater than a decade in the past and the wealthy nations have refused to handle what India believes is probably the most essential concern dealing with poor and growing nations.

US and EU at the moment are looking for to hyperlink a decision of this drawback to a bigger reform of worldwide farm commerce, together with discount of subsidies and import duties. Given the present international dynamics and home political state of affairs, no nation — particularly EU — is prepared to debate reducing of import duties, leading to a state of affairs the place public stockholding has been pushed to the backburner for 2 years.
“Post-Covid, countries have realised that food security is akin to national security. It needs to be addressed before anything else. The kind of language coming from some countries here is unacceptable,” an Indian negotiator advised TOI.