1 Uncorrected/ Not for publication- 08.12.2009 SSS-AKG/11.00/1A ...

96Uncorrected/ Not for publication- 08.12.2009not for what he has done or not done, but because, perhaps, theunemployment rates in the United States being very high, and withObama's distractions with climate change and health issues, it wouldtake the heat off him for a little while, and for a little while, perhaps,Copenhagen would be warmer and hotter than Geneva! Having said this,Sir, there is the Doha Round and the way in which we are going is aquagmire. And the Minister must pull India out of this quagmire in whichwe have landed ourselves. What is this quagmire, Sir? It arises out offour critical issues. The first critical issue is, why, in the negotiatingpriority, did we fail to accord services the highest priority as comparedto industrial tariffs and agriculture?(Contd. by hk/1w)HK/1w/12.50SHRI N.K. SINGH (CONTD.): We know that tariffs on industry arealready quite low. So, the advantages which we will get would benominal. We also know that given our limited export capability onagriculture, we would have limited advantage in terms of agriculture.Why, therefore, has the services sector -- where India has such anenormous comparative advantage in terms of movement of naturalpersons -- been accorded a much lower priority than issues ofagriculture and issues of industry? Would the Minister considerreversing this priority to be able to accord to services the priority itdeserves?