Differences in revised WTO texts will lead to Doha Round failure

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New Delhi: While the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Saturday brought out revised negotiation texts on agriculture and industrial goods to help ink a global trade deal by December-end, India on Sunday said the texts show that serious differences still persist and doubted the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round by this year.

The latest—and the fourth —revisions of these two negotiation texts is expected to lead to a ministerial meeting this month, probably between December 13-15, to help in the successful conclusion of the seven-year-old Doha Round talks for a global trade deal.

“Members now intend to move to a new phase where these areas of the Doha Round can be negotiated in comparison with each other with the hope that agreement can be reached later in December 2008, when a representative group of ministers could be in Geneva,” the WTO said in a statement.

Commerce secretary G K Pillai told FE “there are still serious differences. It is not sure if these texts can lead to a ministerial meeting.”

Official sources said WTO director general Pascal Lamy would convene a meeting of negotiators on Sunday evening at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.

They said Lamy may not call for a ministerial meeting as chances of its failure are “very high”.

During the ministerial meeting in Geneva in July, India, with the backing of China and around 100 other countries, refused to give in to enormous pressure from US and other developed countries to weaken Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). The issue eventually led to failure of talks then. SSM that enables developing countries to impose additional duties temporarily on farm products to protect poor farmers from import surges and price declines of such goods.

Besides SSM, the other main unresolved issues of the WTO talks include reduction of huge trade-distorting farm subsidies of the US, especially their cotton subsidies and Washington's insistence that developing countries should eliminate duties in certain infant and vulnerable industries. The other issues where there is no consensus include agriculture tariff simplification and the treatment of sensitive agricultural goods in developed nations.

India has already said it was for the US to make the first move and emphasised that it would not make any new offers till the US formally softens its highly ambitious demand on increased market access for its industrial goods in developed countries.