The impasse over the Doha Round of world trade talks could be broken in the near future, leading to an agreement that would liberalise global trade, Harsha Vardhana Singh, deputy director-general, World Trade Organisation, said here on Saturday.
Singh?s statement comes a couple of weeks ahead of the informal mini-ministerial on the Doha Round, scheduled in Delhi in the first week of September. Trade ministers of nearly 40 countries will attend the ministerial, including WTO director-general Pascal Lamy, United States trade representative Ron Kirk and European Union trade commissioner Catherine Ashton.
?We have come ahead in a big way. In the Doha Round, the focus that is being emphasised is that we should try and move together in various sectors … So we are trying to move forward in a horizontal manner,? Singh said on Saturday at a function organised by the Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
The Doha talks have been on since late 2001 and were stuck several times over issues like market access and huge subsidies doled out by developed nations like United States to its large farming corporations. In July 2008, a meeting of key trade ministers at Geneva had failed to arrive at a consensus on issues like subsidies given by US to its cotton farmers as well as a disagreement between India and US over the trigger mechanism to counter import surge of farm goods in developing countries, known as Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). After that, only official level talks have taken place.
Significantly, Singh indicated there had been forward movement on SSM, one of the key stumbling blocks in 2008. ?These negotiations have shown that even when there may be important differences of opinion at any point of time, nations can get together again and solve the problem which earlier seemed impenetrable,? he added.
Singh stressed the way out could be through a creative and constructive way. ?Political emphasis is already there, what we require is substantive senior-level technical engagement.? He also urged countries like India and US to work together so that the Doha Round could be taken forward. ?You need to get in touch with each other and show greater sensitivity to each other?s requirements,? Singh said.
He also pointed that the importance of Doha Round on the world community is not just limited to trade only and could have wider implications. ?If multilateral cooperations cannot obtain mutually acceptable solutions in the negotiations, getting success in other more cumbersome issues will be even more difficult because issues such as climate change or the financial and economic crisis are more complex and involve much greater collaborative understanding and assistance.?
Appreciating New Delhi?s efforts to reengage trade ministers on the world trade talks, Singh assured that the country?s concerns on protection of livelihood security of farmers would be addressed. ?We are in the last phase of these negotiating issues, having traveled a long road which has accommodated India?s concerns in a major way,? he added.