JOIN US In the run up to the forthcoming two-day mini ministerial meeting on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) issues beginning from September 3, the Indian industry has called upon the trade ministers to prepare a ‘doable action plan with clear targets’ towards concluding the Doha round of negotiations by 2010.
The two-day informal meet is being organised by India to revive the process for initiating the multilateral trade talks for early conclusion of the Doha round of negotiations.
Welcoming India’s initiative to host the mini Ministerial meet Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) President H P Singhania said “we urge the participating ministers to use this opportunity for readying a blueprint with timelines. This would be critical for completing the Doha talks within the present deadline of next year.”
“While a recent study has estimated $180-520 billion annual rise in world exports from conclusion of Doha round, according to another estimate, failure of these negotiations would prevent a potential $336 billion increase in global trade that would have come from reduction in tariffs and domestic support,” Ficci Chief said.
Balanced agreement
Ficci Chairman (taskforce on WTO issues) R V Kanoria said “the global economic crisis has not only made the goal of concluding Doha round more challenging, it has also made it more imperative.”
Reaching a balanced multilateral agreement would bring greater certainty, predictability, transparency and stability into global trade, which is so important in today’s scenario of economic slowdown and contraction in import demand, he added. Industry suggests that besides sensitive issues like agriculture and Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) it is necessary to have faster and substantive developments in services negotiations which have remained dormant so far.