Sharma calls for greater engagement to re-energise world trade talks

India today called for engaging all opinions in the current Doha Round world trade negotiations in order to bridge the remaining gaps and arrive at solutions to unresolved issues ahead of the final round of talks in Geneva.

There are a few gaps and a large number of unresolved issues in the texts of modalities on NAMA and agriculture - both in the architecture of a solution and in negotiating gaps before ministers can collectively outline the way forward, he said.

"All these issues need to be extensively discussed at the technical level by senior officials. This will take time and needs to be factored in when we decide on a schedule for the ensuing months to determine when agriculture/NAMA modalities can be meaningfully concluded," Sharma said.

He said the international groupings of nations from which declarations of support for the Doha Round have emanated, simply did not represent the full spectrum of the WTO membership.

"The Delhi meeting constitutes a microcosm of the entire WTO membership, representing all shades of opinion and interests. This would be the first occasion since July 2008 that such a meeting is taking place to give a determined push to the multilateral process," said.

Sharma said nations must go beyond yet another reaffirmation and work together collectively to provide guidance for a clear road map of multilateral engagement in the months ahead.