India has told the United States it must give ground in negotiations over food stockpiling to secure a global trade deal next month, a step widely seen as vital for the credibility of the World Trade Organisation. In a letter to US Trade Representative Michael Froman, India's Trade Minister Anand Sharma emphasised the "social significance" of allowing a change in the WTO rules to let poor countries stockpile subsidised food.
"As I had explained to you, Food Security is crucial for large developing countries like India with hundreds of millions of people subsisting below the poverty line," Sharma wrote, according to excerpts made available to Reuters.