Delhi trade talks fail to show the way forward
04 Sep 2009
The three-day ministerial meeting of 35 member countries of the World Trade Organisation concluded in New Delhi today with representatives unanimously agreeing to meet in Geneva.
They all agreed on the development dimension of the Doha Round and the need to address the concerns of LDCs in global trade but failed to find a way forward for reviving the stalled negotiations.
The three-day talks failed to make any dent in the position of the United States or of the group of developing nations. The US refused to reopen talks on what it said, "has been agreed upon so far."
Top US trade representative Ron Kirk said the WTO members must work hard to fill in the remaining gaps to clinch a Doha deal rather than trying to reopen what has been agreed to so far.
Kirk dismissed fears raised by countries like Brazil and the European Union that Washington wanted to unravel what has been painfully negotiated over nearly eight years.
Ministers agreed that the basis for completing the talks, which will cut tariffs and subsidies in farm and industrial goods and open up services such as banking and telecoms, are negotiating texts drafted at the December negotiations last year.