Jun 19, 1985

INDIA: GANDHI RULES OUT NEW GATT ROUND.

GENEVA, JUNE 17 (IFDA/CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) -- Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi refused to endorse Monday a new round of negotiations in GATT as sought by the U.S. and some other industrial countries.

Addressing a press conference, Gandhi said India wanted trade issues and protectionism to be addressed through multilateral fora like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), but could not accept a new round without knowing its contents and what was sought to be achieved.

Answering a wide range of questions, Gandhi impressed the UN press corps by showing a remarkable awareness of details (as over the new round) and in answering "booby-trapped" questions from newsmen.

Earlier in his address to the Indian Labour Conference, Gandhi had warned about the "danger signals" in the international economy in the shape of protectionism.

Industrial countries, he said, were trying to solve their unemployment problems by shutting out imports from the Third World countries.

Protectionism in the industrial world was growing just when the Third World was being enjoined "to liberalise their trade regimes", and the concepts of "fair-labour standards" were being raised to perpetuate protectionism.

But if Third World countries could not export, they could not import goods and services of industrial countries either, he underlined.

Protectionism thus had wider ramifications than foreign trade policies, and should be discussed internationally in terms of its long-term impact on employment, both in the industrial and Third World countries.

At his press conference Gandhi was asked about his remarks on protectionism and PLEA for multilateralism, and India’s opposition to the new round, and asked what he would expect the GATT multilateral forum to discuss.

Gandhi said that Third World countries had long been pressing for a New International Economic Order (NIEO), and he believed that these issues should be addressed in GATT.

He had discussed this viewpoint in his recent trip that carried him to Egypt, France, Algeria and the United States, he added.

The Indian opposition to the new round sought by the industrial countries did not mean India was against GATT, Gandhi declared.

But India could not agree to a new round without knowing its contents and what was sought.

"I do not believe that even the industrial countries know exactly what they want through a new round. And we cannot agree to something about which we do not know".

But India was opposed to the inclusion of "services" into the new round, simply because the GATT did not cover "services", Gandhi added.

India would like to discuss in the GATT multilateral forum a number of issues – the issue of the NIEO that the non-aligned movement had been pressing for, the issues of protectionism against the Third World, and the unfinished business from past GATT rounds.

Gandhi reiterated his opposition to the U.S. "star wars" plans, and the extension of the arms race to the outer space, and said that to the extend this was done, it would make disarmament negotiations even more difficult.

India, he made clear, had no intention of joining the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, so long as it contained provisions discriminating against the non-nuclear weapon states.

On Afghanistan, Gandhi said that in his visits recently to Moscow and Washington, he got the impression that both sides wanted to solve the problem.

During his visits, he had tried to explain the Indian viewpoint and had tried to understand the viewpoints of the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

As regards U.S. willingness to sell high-technology arms to India, Gandhi said there had been no shift in Indian policy on this matter.

"There are certain clauses that the U.S. wants us to sign as part of a contract for sale of arms, with which we do not agree. Until this is sorted out, it will be very difficult for India to enter into an agreement for purchase of arms from the Untied States", Gandhi added.

On Israel and the Arab-Israeli problems, Gandhi said that in India’s view these problems could not be solved without involving fully all parties.

And in a reference to the Israeli refusal to deal with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Gandhi added that no solution was possible "by pretending one group does not exist".

On the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka, Gandhi said this was a problem that had to be solved by the people of Sri Lanka, and India "can only help the two parties to come together".

India was working for this, and the Sri Lanka government was also aware that India had confiscated arms that were being sought to be smuggled by the Tamils across the palk straits into Sri Lanka.

About the situation in the Punjab, the Indian Prime Minister was confident that a political solution would be found.

The situation in that state had improved very much in the last few months, and the centre had taken steps for normalisation of the situation in the state.

"Though the response was not as good as we wanted, it was still positive, and the Akali Dal party was taking a positive stand against terrorism and violence and for a solution within the constitution and unity of India ... we are optimistic we will be able to have talks and come to a successful solution".