9 Jun 2009, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: India has said the Doha round of multilateral trade talks should resume on the basis of the draft reports on agriculture and Nama (industrial goods) produced by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) committees late last year.
During the ongoing Cairns Group meeting in Bali, commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma held separate talks with US trade representative Ron Kirk and the trade ministers from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Indonesia to discuss ways in which the stalled talks could be put back on track.
In his special address to the Cairns Group, Mr Sharma reiterated India’s commitment to the successful conclusion of the Doha process through constructive engagement. The Doha talks had broken down last July over a number of issues, including differences between India and the US over the levels up to which developing countries could increase tariffs on farm products to protect poor farmers. Another area of dispute between the two was whether the sectoral negotiations, which call for zero tariffs on identified sectors, should be made mandatory.
While emphasising on the need for resumption of negotiations based on the draft reports on agriculture and Nama—which tried to incorporate the concerns and aspirations of both developed and developing countries—the minister stated that the ‘development dimension’ of the Doha round must be central to all discussions, and the aspirations of all developing countries for a fair trading regime must be recognised, an official release said.
The release added that both Mr Sharma and Mr Kirk agreed to take forward the multilateral negotiations and to review the US-India bilateral engagement during the minister’s visit to Washington later this month.
Mr Sharma also held talks with his counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Indonesia. He is scheduled to meet WTO director general Pascal Lamy on Tuesday.
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