Two things that Union minister of commerce Kamal Nath claims as the most successful outcome of the World Trade Organization's (wto's) Hong Kong ministerial are the agreements on special products (sps) and the Special Safeguard Mechanism (ssm) for the developing world. But with the April 30 deadline for implementing the agreements coming to an end, India has made no headway in pushing the process along.

The Hong Kong ministerial recognised that developing countries have the flexibility to designate certain products in the sp category, on the basis of three criteria