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Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath speaks in New York in this May 8, 2008...
Fri, May 16 04:06 PM
By Surojit Gupta
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India warned on Friday global trade talks will not have much chance of success if they fail to deliver on a development promise and end up converted into a market-access round for rich nations.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy has said it is possible to reach a deal on the long-delayed global trade round before the end of the year.
Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in a statement in New Delhi it was vital for India to first secure the livelihoods of its poor and vulnerable farmers before it could move on any other issue.
He said a new issue of transparency in special products, which are deemed particularly important for developing nations' farmers, amounted to renegotiation of vital parts of the mandate and this was not acceptable to developing countries.
"If the Round fails to deliver on its development promise and gets converted to yet another market-access round for the benefit of the wealthier nations, the current efforts being made by India and many other developing countries to conclude it within the next few months will not have much chance of success," he said.
He said the talks were delicately poised, and whether the round reached a conclusion by the end of 2008 or moved into its eighth year would depend on a number of factors.
The WTO negotiations were launched in 2001 to help poor countries export more and to boost the global economy, but they have missed a series of deadlines due to deep differences over how to lower barriers to imports, particularly in farming.
Analysts say India is unlikely to soften its stance on agriculture and may even gamble on the negotiations stretching into next year when a new U.S. administration is in place.
Nath said it was imperative to settle the issue of special products and a special safeguard mechanism, wanted by developing nations in case they face a sudden glut of imports, before a final run-up to a framework on agriculture and non-agricultural market access.
"This is a subject which is just not tradeable for India," Nath said.
He said major trading economies such as the United States and the European Union must display leadership and not lay the onus for the round's success only on developing countries.
New Zealand's WTO ambassador, the mediator of the farm talks, has said he would produce a revised negotiating text either this week or next, potentially opening the way for a meeting of ministers to clinch an outline deal.
The WTO wants to hold ministerial talks this month to secure a breakthrough, and although no date has yet been set for this meeting, Lamy has said it could still happen.
Without a deal soon, the changeover of administrations in Washington and Brussels in 2009 risk causing several more years of delay, adding to concerns that support for free trade is giving way to protectionism as economic growth slows.
Talks have intensified in recent weeks but there has not been enough progress for the WTO to summon ministers to Geneva for a push for a long-elusive breakthrough.
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