January 13, 2007	Saturday	Zilhaj 22, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: Pakistan is likely to move the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against India over its alleged fake registration of super basmati in the international market, which is traditionally produced in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The decision is likely to be taken by a high-level meeting being held here on Saturday. The meeting will be presided over Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Shah and will be attended by Secretary Ministry of Food and Agriculture Ismael Qureshi and experts on intellectual property rights.

"We have held many futile discussions with India over the past many months. Now we have no other option but to fight our case at the WTO to secure the Geographical Indication for basmati," a top official of the federal agriculture ministry told Dawn on the term of anonymity.

He said that the decision had already been taken but the Saturday’s meeting would give it a formal vetting.

He said that a legal case would be filed in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) under the Geographical Indication Law of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).

Talks between Pakistan and India to agree to a joint registration of basmati rice in the European Union (EU) market have failed to deliver mainly due to strong opposition from the stakeholders and India’s unanimous move of registering the super basmati in the global market under its own GI.

An official said that the talks for joint registration had failed because the Pakistani basmati growers and exporters had rejected the idea of joint registration with India unanimously and had warned of dire consequences for the Pakistani exports.

Trade and commerce officials of both the countries had agreed last year to form a joint working group on the issue of joint registration in the EU markets, which consider basmati as the joint heritage of both the South Asian countries under Geographical Indication (GI) Law of World Trade Organisation (WTO).

According to the EU, basmati is originally being produced in the areas of Punjab on both sides of Pakistan and India. Traditionally both the countries have inherited rights over the basmati therefore it should be registered in EU market under a joint GI. After putting this condition, both Pakistan and India agreed to carry talks on the joint registration issue, which led to nowhere.