Geneva: India has strongly opposed the US proposal submitted to the WTO (World Trade Organisation) for eliminating tariffs on industrial and consumer goods by 2015, terming it "clearly unfair" and against interests of developing countries.

Addressing the WTO meeting on market access in Geneva on December 1, India's Ambassador K M Chandrasekhar said the call on developing countries to bind their tariffs to zero was "clearly unfair" and did not take into account their developing and budgetary needs.

He was speaking shortly after the US formally presented its proposal to its WTO partners, which aims at gradually eliminating all non-agricultural tariffs by 2015.

He pointed out that tariffs were vital for government revenues, with customs tariffs accounting for around 30 and 40 per cent of overall tax revenue for developing countries, as compared to the US, where it was about one per cent.

Other developing countries including Malaysia, Pakistan and Philippines also highlighted similar concerns, sources said.

However, the US ambassador to the WTO, Linnet Deily, insisted that the proposals were "bold and fair" and poor countries stood to benefit.

Industrial goods make up about 89 per cent of developing countries' exports, she said on the first of the two scheduled days of market access talks, part of the Doha Development round of trade negotiations due to run until the end of 2004.

"Through the US proposal, developing countries would secure within five years bound duty-free market access for non-agricultural goods now entering developed country markets at tariff levels at or below five per cent," she said.

PTI