We are writing you in the context of the mini ministerial (29th June 2006 to 3rd July 2006) in Geneva and the recent developments in the NAMA negotiations in the WTO.
We would like to begin by acknowledging the legacy of India’s position as a leader of developing countries in international arena. India has emerged as a leader of the G 20 group and plays a crucial role in the G 77 as well as in NAMA11.
However, we would like to express our deep concern over the present NAMA negotiations, which will lead to far-reaching tariff liberalisation, without taking development, employment and working conditions of millions of workers in India and other developing countries into account. We are also perturbed by the fact that the government has not taken any initiative to discuss the issues with trade unions and organizations of people who will be affected by the policies.
Special needs and interests of developing and least developed country participants, which were reaffirmed in the ‘July Framework’ and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration stand threatened with the proposals for an ambitious coefficient by several members of developed countries, in particular US and EU.  This would force very steep level of tariff reductions upon India and other developing countries, severely impacting on our local industries, balance of payments, tariff revenue, policy space and employment, all of which are crucial elements in development and poverty reduction strategies.
The importance of Non Agricultural Trade to India is apparent from the fact that the share of manufactured goods in the total exports from India is around 74% as against 16.8% cent of agricultural products (Economic Survey, 2004-05). The manufacturing sector absorbs the huge labour force moving away from agriculture. Sectoral negotiations aim at elimination or harmonization of tariffs in labour intensive and crucial sectors in India such as fish and fish products, forest products, textiles and clothing, footwear, autos and related parts, bicycles and related parts, electronics/electrical products, paper products, plastic products, rubber products, metals and metal products. All these sectors form vital source of livelihood and formal and informal employment for millions of people in India. We are also concerned by the strong pressure from the developed countries to link NAMA negotiations to the Agreement on Agriculture as suggested in the Hong Kong Declaration, which would further worsen the food insecurity of our people.

We bring to your notice figures released by the ICFTU to coincide with the re-launch of WTO talks in Geneva show the potentially devastating effect on employment that developing countries face from the current negotiations. Using a coefficient of 15 as proposed by EU and US, the ICFTU study has pointed out that India will have to make average reduction of 70% in bound tariff rates compared to 20% for industrialised countries. This would cause bound tariff rates to be reduced by between 14% and 73%, depending on the sector. The study has further pointed out that sectors that will be hardest hit in India would be textiles, paper products, plastic products, rubber products, metals and metal products and transport equipment. (The ICFTU table for India is given as attachment for your ready reference.)
Deep tariff reductions in these sectors will expose large number of small and medium manufacturing enterprises to competitive pressures, which in turn translate into low wages, poor working conditions, employment loss and social insecurity for millions of workers. We are afraid that deep tariff reductions might force the government to compromise on its capacity to retain the policy instruments necessary to protect certain sectors, diversify industrial base and create and maintain decent employment.
Given these concerns and the lack of (in fact no) initiatives for impact assessments and accompanying adjustment policies, we call upon the government:
 Not to fall in the trap of linking NAMA to the Agreement on Agriculture (paragraph 24) as suggested in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration as the proposals being made by the developed countries are highly disproportionate and against India’s interests.
 To ensure that India has flexibility in line-by-line commitments with the option of raising tariff on a selective basis as and when needed for industrial development as policy flexibility is essential for industrial development.
 To desist from making commitments on tariff reduction in environmentally sensitive sectors like fishery and forestry which otherwise jeopardize the sustainable livelihood sources of millions of people.
We also call upon the government to protect and uphold the interests of the developing countries and LDCs by insisting on following points:
• Based on the principle of ‘less than full reciprocity’, ensure that each developing country applies a tariff reduction in line with its own stage of development. Further reduction in tariffs by developing countries should be a strategic policy decision by an individual country and not a mandatory requirement under the NAMA negotiations.
• Guarantee economic sovereignty of developing countries in negotiations by ensuring that they have the policy space to adopt context specific industrial development strategies and have the flexibility to alter tariffs on due developmental grounds.
• Multilateral and national impact assessments of current proposals on development, the quality and quantity of employment and people living in poverty with the full involvement of trade unions representing workers that will be affected by the outcome. Specific attention should be given to labour-intensive and environmentally sensitive sectors, and gender impact, as called for in para 16 of the Doha Declaration which states that the modalities should include appropriate studies and capacity-building measures.
Keeping all these in mind, we urge you to approach the NAMA negotiations in a way that will contribute to and not undermine the economic sovereignty and the developmental needs of India and its working population. If not, it is better to dump the Doha Round.