The United States today said India, Brazil and China need to play a more "responsible" role at the Doha Round of Talks of the World Trade Organisation, commensurate with the benefits they have realised from global liberalisation over the last several years.
US Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk said at a news conference in Paris on Thursday that the WTO members need to adopt a more realistic negotiating paradigm on the Doha Talks, which aim to reduce tariff ceilings for agricultural and industrial goods, cap allowable farm subsidies and liberalise trade in services.
Kirk was in Paris to meet with trade ministers responsible for the WTO Doha Round.
The round of trade negotiations, which began in 2001, have failed to make any headway on account of the divergent views espoused by developed countries and less developed nations on the issue of agricultural trade policies.
Kirk noted that there was still acrimony over the earlier Uruguay Round of Talks on agricultural policy, where the US and European Union were accused to closeting themselves away to negotiate an outcome that was adopted by the body in 1994.
However, Kirk claims that everybody benefited from the Uruguay round. "The reality is it took that type of very difficult decision-making by the two dominant economies at the time to get the world to get to the Uruguay Round," he said.
"If you look at the benefits and the change of the economies in those LDCs between that periods of time, you can say that the world has greatly benefited from that," he added.
"The reality, and we happen to think it's a welcome reality, is that now there's three more chairs at the table. The real question is whether India and Brazil and China, frankly, are ready to assume a role and responsibility commensurate with their benefits that have been realised under global liberalisation over the last several years," Kirk said.
"We can talk around it, but that's the only way this is going to happen. That is an observation that has now been made by more members that were sitting around the table this morning than just the United States," he said.
In response to a question, Kirk said there are a number of areas that many members still had challenges with, including India and China.
"But we have always maintained that we don't think that the progress and the work that was done should be discarded. My statement stands on its merits, and it's fairly common sense. We build on that, he said.
"But it's not going to be complete until it is balanced with the negotiations that we have to have across the board in services and the NAMA and in rules. Until that, you don't have that single undertaking at all," he added.
Kirk argued that a number of the members of the WTO have benefited marvellously from trade liberalisation efforts over the last 20 to 30 years, particularly from the Uruguay Round, and no one more so than the advanced developing economies of Brazil, India and China.
"The recognition of that change in their status and their responsibility is a good thing and a healthy thing, both for the growth of their economies, but also in terms of their ability to now take on an increased leadership role along with historic developed economies in delivering to the world another round of trade liberalising agreements," he said.