India pushes for certain flexibility under the Steel Subsidies Agreement
The Union Minister of Steel of
India informed in a conference today that
India maintains its
opinion regarding the steps taken in eliminating state subsidies on steel worldwide.
India mentioned that an agreement regarding subsidies already existed under the World Trade organisation (WTO) and refused to participate in the draft agreement for the elimination of state subsidies, currently under preparation by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
India has been pushing for certain flexibility to be granted to developing countries under the framework of such agreement to ban state subsidies, since the beginning. According to the Ministry, such agreement should be prepared under the guidance of the WTO, since
India itself and other developing countries are signatories of the already-existing agreement on the subject.
This concern arises from the worries that the industry might need certain governmental support in the future, as the infrastructure and financial markets possibly have deficiencies at the moment, even though there are currently no significant subsidies for steel except for certain incentives to promote exports.