‘New WTO formula good basis for deal’

NEW DELHI – India believes a new formula proposed for a deal on agriculture and industry tariffs is a good basis for negotiations to resume in the stalled Doha round of global trade talks, a report said Friday.

Earlier last week, chief negotiators on agricultural and industrial trade at the World Trade Organisation released detailed technical proposals aimed at reviving the nearly six-year-old effort to reduce global trade barriers. The new draft text on Non-Agriculture Market Access and agriculture “is a good basis for starting intensive negotiations,” Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.Nath, who was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi, said he talked with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on Friday and told him “this is not a text of convergence.It is a text that will lead to further negotiations.”India has said it hopes the mandate of the Doha Round to speed up development of poorer countries is addressed when negotiations start in September.The Doha round of talks, revived in February after a six-month hiatus, suffered another jolt last month when the key negotiators – the United States, European Union, India and Brazil – failed to agree on the extent of tariff and export subsidy cuts.The new draft suggests reducing industrial import duties below 23 per cent for 27 developing nations.Brazil and India have been seeking 30 per cent to protect their fledgling industrial growth.The other proposals on agriculture suggested that Washington should rein in support for US farmers to between US$12,8 billion and US$16,2 billion a year.The WTO’s 150 members are at odds over the extent of new reductions in barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services.Developing nations say rich nation agricultural subsidies artificially depress prices and prevent their small farmers from competing on world markets.In return for farm cuts, wealthy economies want deeper concessions from developing countries on access to industrial markets.Nampa-AFPThe new draft text on Non-Agriculture Market Access and agriculture “is a good basis for starting intensive negotiations,” Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.Nath, who was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi, said he talked with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on Friday and told him “this is not a text of convergence.It is a text that will lead to further negotiations.”India has said it hopes the mandate of the Doha Round to speed up development of poorer countries is addressed when negotiations start in September.The Doha round of talks, revived in February after a six-month hiatus, suffered another jolt last month when the key negotiators – the United States, European Union, India and Brazil – failed to agree on the extent of tariff and export subsidy cuts.The new draft suggests reducing industrial import duties below 23 per cent for 27 developing nations.Brazil and India have been seeking 30 per cent to protect their fledgling industrial growth.The other proposals on agriculture suggested that Washington should rein in support for US farmers to between US$12,8 billion and US$16,2 billion a year.The WTO’s 150 members are at odds over the extent of new reductions in barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services.Developing nations say rich nation agricultural subsidies artificially depress prices and prevent their small farmers from competing on world markets.In return for farm cuts, wealthy economies want deeper concessions from developing countries on access to industrial markets.Nampa-AFP