We may walk out of WTO

  • 17/07/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)

New Delhi, July 16: Union commerce minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said on Wednesday that his ministry has received no proposal to strip Reliance Industries Jamnagar refinery of its export oriented unit (EOU) status. Mr Nath also said that India could walk out of the WTO ministerial meet in Geneva next week if India's concerns are not met. "We have received no such representation," he said, when asked about Samajwadi Party's demand for withdrawal of the export-oriented unit status to the private petroleum refineries. A commerce ministry official said, "It is a very old policy, may be when Reliance wouldn't have even thought about a refinery in Jamnagar," said a commerce ministry official. The official said that if there has to be any change in EOU policy it has to be across the board. Reliance's Jamnagar Refinery was commissioned on 1999 with an installed capacity of 661,000 barrels per day. On WTO talks, Mr Nath said that he was hopeful that the ministerial meeting will lead to closure. He said that there will be no agreement, if India does not agree to it. A mini-ministerial meeting has been convey by DG, WTO from 21 to 26 July to finalise the agricultural and NAMA modalities