It is a rare honour for me to welcome His Excellency Mr Robert Zoellick, the US Trade Representative and of course, Ambassador Blackwill on behalf of ASSOCHAM, CII and FICCI. I find it a daunting task to speak before an intellectual of your stature, Mr Zoellik, the recipient of the distinguished Service Award, the highest honour of the US Department of State. Sir, we are deeply encouraged by your path-breaking gesture yesterday that invigorates our relationship and gives fresh resilience to Indo-US trade synergy.

India and USA have bonds beyond dollars and rupees. Our deepest synergy lies in the realm of ideas. Our Bhagwat Gita influenced Ralph Emerson, who in turn, influenced Henry Thoreau, who then triggered Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts on Civil Disobedience and finally, Gandhi’s great experiment returned to the US by influencing Martin Luther King. The rest is history.

Yes, you are our largest trading partner, you are our largest investor, and we are bound together by the vibrancy of two great democracies. Your present visit has already begun to build a new edifice on the rock of our great legacy. And we believe that knowledge will be the driver of our relationship as we spurt into the 21st century. We are now on the path of the real Hayekian information revolution founded on enterprise and markets.

While we look forward to a promising future, let me introspect for a moment on the past in a rapidly globalising world. In an article in the Economist, Robert Wade found that world income distribution had, in fact, become more unequal and the least developed countries witnessed their share in global merchandise exports falling. These are alarming trends indeed.

Excellency, your visit to India takes place on the eve of the much-awaited Doha Ministerial and we from the Indian industry firmly believe that a rule- based multilateral trading system is of utmost importance. Yet, majority opinion in developing countries is questioning the emerging rules of the game, which remain asymmetrical in construct, and inequitable in outcome.

There is great concern over the unfinished agenda in the area of implementation. There was hope on the outcomes of the mandated agenda on agriculture and services, both of which could strongly benefit developing nations, and yet, Sir, new issues, not related to the trading regime, have begun to cloud the optimism. The talk of core labour standards and environmental clause thrust on the global trading regime depressed many of us.

Should the developing nations accept the new issue of competition policy when US and Europe themselves have divergent positions? Should the domestic priorities and developmental aspirations be put aside in allowing unrestricted flow of foreign direct investments? What worries Indian industry deeply is the sudden surge of these contentious non-trade issues while the critically important issues of implementation pale into relative insignificance.

In the domain of agricultural subsidies it is the OECD countries which have really benefited from special and differential treatment. Developing countries like India have to take care of their food security and livelihood concerns. In textiles, tariffs have hardly moved south and tariff escalation continues unabated. An UNCTAD-WTO joint study shows that one-fifth of the tariff peaks of US, about one-seventh of those of Canada, nearly one-third of those of EU and Japan exceed the figure of 30 per cent. Thus, you will agree, our comparative advantage in the Ricardian sense remains muzzled.

In the area of TRIPS there is a challenge to meet. While millions of people are dying from HIV-AIDS, TRIPS provisions are moulded to restrain the supply of life-saving drugs at affordable prices. In this context, we welcome the US decision to drop the case against Brazil’s industrial property law.

May I also raise the issue of extending protection for geographical indications to products other than wines and spirits. What of our Basmati Rice and Darjeeling Tea? We also strongly feel, movement of natural persons offering service must be freed. We are also concerned about your Byrd Amendment which would provide US industries a double protection.

Your Excellency, let me reiterate, Indian business is committed to the strengthening of a multilateral trading system under WTO. We would like to see the unfinished business of increasing market access for developing and least developed countries be accomplished. Sir, we share an optimism that under the leadership of President Bush, supported by brilliant minds like those of yours and Ambassador Blackwill’s, the challenge of emerging global inequalities and the need for just and fair trade will be addressed successfully. It is in this spirit that I call upon Ambassador Blackwill to address us.

Thank you.