New York: The bitter mud-slinging over which nation was holding up the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) limping Doha Development Round eased on Thursday with India and the United States expressing guarded optimism that a breakthrough for opening up world trade may be around the corner.
Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath met US trade representative Susan Schwab in Washington on Thursday for trade talks.
Indian officials described the discussions as “productive” and said they focused tightly on how senior officials of the two countries would work together in Geneva over the coming weeks to “narrow the differences and build on convergences.”
“This round will close with respecting each other’s sensitivities,” Nath told the Global Partnership Summit of the US India Business Council.
The minister also stressed that criticism in the United States that India was standing in the way of a deal was “unfair and inaccurate.” He said rich countries had to be sensitive to the fact that countries like India have hundreds of millions of people for whom agriculture is a matter of food security.
“We need to harmonise these sensitivities and get the maximum mileage we can ... No country can get everything, but no country is going to give everything away,” said Nath while expressing optimism about getting a new world trade round off the ground.
Reuters on Thursday quoted WTO director general Pascal Lamy as saying that negotiators might well draft a deal by the beginning of July. “I think it’s doable, but I’m not sure it will be done,” Lamy said in Stockholm. He noted that “we are quite close to the finishing line.”
Schwab, who later addressed the conference in Washington, said, “Something may be about to happen, folks, and I hope you’re paying attention.”
There is also a new sense of urgency among the WTO’s 152 member countries to steer the Doha round forward ahead of the US presidential election, which may cause years of further delays.
Supporters backing a deal worry that the new Democratic mantra “fair trade not free trade” may derail the Doha round in the event of power in the US shifting hands from the Republicans to the Democrats.
Reuters said that whether ministers are able to meet at the end of June or early in July depends on the progress of intensive consultations in Geneva this week and next to prepare the ground.
It quoted diplomats and officials saying that talks were making little progress on the deadlocked topic of tariff cuts for industrial goods.
Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath met US trade representative Susan Schwab in Washington on Thursday for trade talks.
Indian officials described the discussions as “productive” and said they focused tightly on how senior officials of the two countries would work together in Geneva over the coming weeks to “narrow the differences and build on convergences.”
“This round will close with respecting each other’s sensitivities,” Nath told the Global Partnership Summit of the US India Business Council.
The minister also stressed that criticism in the United States that India was standing in the way of a deal was “unfair and inaccurate.” He said rich countries had to be sensitive to the fact that countries like India have hundreds of millions of people for whom agriculture is a matter of food security.
“We need to harmonise these sensitivities and get the maximum mileage we can ... No country can get everything, but no country is going to give everything away,” said Nath while expressing optimism about getting a new world trade round off the ground.
Reuters on Thursday quoted WTO director general Pascal Lamy as saying that negotiators might well draft a deal by the beginning of July. “I think it’s doable, but I’m not sure it will be done,” Lamy said in Stockholm. He noted that “we are quite close to the finishing line.”
Schwab, who later addressed the conference in Washington, said, “Something may be about to happen, folks, and I hope you’re paying attention.”
There is also a new sense of urgency among the WTO’s 152 member countries to steer the Doha round forward ahead of the US presidential election, which may cause years of further delays.
Supporters backing a deal worry that the new Democratic mantra “fair trade not free trade” may derail the Doha round in the event of power in the US shifting hands from the Republicans to the Democrats.
Reuters said that whether ministers are able to meet at the end of June or early in July depends on the progress of intensive consultations in Geneva this week and next to prepare the ground.
It quoted diplomats and officials saying that talks were making little progress on the deadlocked topic of tariff cuts for industrial goods.
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