India and Turkey to discuss cotton yarn dispute
India and Turkey will hold negotiations in Ankara In April 2012 to resolve their trade dispute over the imposition of special import duties on Indian cotton yarn.
“Turkey has agreed to hold consultations in Ankara. The consultations are aimed at finding a mutually acceptable solution for the dispute,” a Commerce Ministry official said.
India had requested for consultations with Turkey under the dispute settlement system of the WTO. The request for consultations, filed on February 13, formally initiates a dispute in the WTO.
Consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. The safeguard measures by Turkey, a major producer of cotton, were imposed in 2008 for a period of three years. When the three-year term expired in July 2011, it imposed provisional safeguard measures and later re-imposed final safeguard measures.
The import duty was increased to 15-20%. Indian cotton yarn producers said that the markets is resorting to unnecessary restrictions.
