After disengaging itself from the Group of Four, India has informed the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it wants the Doha talks, aimed at achieving global trade agreement, to continue at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.
“WTO Director General Pascal Lamy has spoken to Commerce & Industry Minister Kamal Nath who has expressed India’s desire to speed up discussions at official levels in Geneva,” official sources said here.
In fact, sources said all trade ministers of the G4 — India, Brazil, European Union and the US — have separately spoken to Mr Lamy and wanted negotiations to continue, notwithstanding the failure of talks among themselves last week at Potsdam in Germany.
Sharp differences
The talks collapsed in the backdrop of wide differences among the US and EU on one side and India and Brazil on the other.
While India and Brazil had made demands for sharp cuts in the trade distorting farm subsidies in rich nations, the EU and the US wanted the “advanced developing countries” to open their market for the agri products. He had cautioned the US and the EU against attempts to divide the unity of the developing countries which have come together for protecting their trade interests under various groupings such as G-20, G-33 and G-90.
Trade analysts feel that what could not be achieved among just four countries may be difficult to get among the 150 members of the WTO.
However, Mr Lamy remains hopeful. “This negotiation is not a negotiation among just four players, it is a collective endeavour among all participants in the Round 150 Members and 29 acceding observers. It is also a single undertaking covering a broad agenda with development at its heart. I think it is timely to reassert these basic principles,” he said in Geneva on Friday.