The stalemate at the Doha Round negotiations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for a global trade deal is likely end soon, as a meeting of senior officers from member countries is scheduled to take place next week at the headquarters of the multilateral body in Geneva to discuss new offers on market opening commitments in agriculture and industrial goods.
Highly placed sources told FE that fresh negotiation texts on agriculture and industrial goods are likely to be out by the first week of December to enable the conclusion of the talks by December-end.
Also, another meeting would be held this Saturday (November 22) at WTO in Geneva to gauge the sentiments of its members on the inclusion of controversial market opening provisions the called ?Sectorals? in the final text on Non-Agricultural Market Access (Nama or industrial goods).
Official sources said the meeting next week couldn?t be considered as just another technical level talks, adding that it will be a serious engagement. India is likely to be represented by Special Secretary in the commerce ministry Rahul Khullar.
?We are involved in intensive negotiations. This will lead to a ministerial meeting by mid-December. But in the negotiations stage, no one will reveal his or her cards. Everyone will have to make some compromise or the other to arrive at a consensus,? a top official said.
However, no official from New Delhi would attend the meeting on ?sectorals? on November 22, convened by the chairperson of NAMA negotiations. India would be represented by officials from its Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva, as it is not a high-level meeting, they said.
The developments need to be seen in the light of Commerce Secretary G K Pillai?s Geneva visit last week, where he met with top authorities at the WTO and senior officials from other member countries. He also attended a session on industrial goods negotiations and then later went to Washington to meet senior officials in the US, sources said. On Monday, agriculture negotiations chairperson Crawford Falconer has asked members to disclose their new positions and the compromises that they are ready to make to help concluding the talks for a global trade deal.
Referring to the statement made by G-20 (group of 20) leaders in Washington that they were committed to the conclusion of the Doha Round talks by this year-end, Falconer said ?if the leaders believe that agreement is possible by the end of December, then their officials must have indicated to them that it will be possible to change positions and reach consensus.?
?Counting back from the conclusion of work for the year, that would require major shifts within a fortnight at the latest,? Falconer said. The G20 leaders had said their nations would work towards an ambitious and balanced outcome of the WTO global trade deal talks. They had also said that the countries with maximum stake in trade liberalization should make positive contributions, meaning that countries like India would have to make commitments regarding opening their markets, official sources said.
The G20 leaders had also pledged that they would not take protectionist measures, including erecting new trade barriers, both tariff and non-tariff barriers, in the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, China is understood to have ruled out taking part in ?sectoral? negotiations in sectors like electricals and electronics, chemicals and industrial machinery in which the US is keen to ensure that duties are eliminated or drastically reduced.
India?s commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath had on Monday said that he will not make any compromises on the country?s key concerns ? safeguarding the livelihood of its poor farmers and protecting its small and vulnerable industries.
During the talks 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). This issue eventually led to the failure of the 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.