The Hindu : National : Doha round of trade talks likely to be delayed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005

National

National

Doha round of trade talks likely to be delayed

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Commerce Secretary S.N. Menon said on Tuesday that it would be difficult to conclude the Doha round of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation by December when the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference is due to be held, given the contentious issues outstanding in agriculture alone.

Speaking at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development workshop, he said progress on the agriculture negotiations had remained elusive as developed countries had not adequately responded to concerns of developing nations. Besides, he said developed countries were primarily responsible for the large distortions and protectiveness in the agriculture sector.

Stressing that it could be difficult to conclude the Doha round by December, he said this was compounded by factors such as cross-sectoral trade-offs.

"Self-serving stances"

Developed countries were asking for large contributions from developing nations for cutting their subsidies and protection. But they did not seek commitments from others if their defensive concerns in agriculture were addressed. Describing these as "self-serving stances," he said this undermined the very responsible role that developing countries had been playing in the WTO.

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