Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath will travel to Geneva this week to step up efforts to break the stalemate in WTO trade negotiations. |
"I will be going to Geneva this week to take the consultation process forward," Nath said. Efforts by key trade ministers to break the stalemate come a week ahead of a meeting of G-8 leaders in Russia, which will take up the stalled trade talks. |
Apart from India, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has been mandated to hold one-on-one discussions with other key players - the United States, European Union, Brazil, Japan and Australia - to break the impasse after the collapse of the mini-ministerial in Geneva earlier this month. |
After the mini-ministerial collapsed, Lamy had been given two weeks to persuade the key players to make concessions to bring about convergence on the two contentious issues of agriculture and industrial tariffs. |
"If Lamy feels that key trading nations are nearing a consensus he might call another mini-ministerial in Geneva," officials added. |
Meanwhile, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has written a letter to the G8 +5 leaders (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa) urging them to reach an agreement on the Doha round of trade talks when they meet in St Petersburg on July 17. |
While successfully concluding the Doha round will depend on detailed formulae and a painstaking technical process, he said a collective pledge by the US to reduce agriculture subsidies, by the EU to improve market access and the + 5 members to limit tariffs on manufacturing "" a pledge that meets Chief Negotiator Pascal Lamy's '20-20-20' targets "" could help seal a deal. |
"With time running out, our collective efforts can make a difference. We can work to lift millions from poverty, boost developing country income, improve global market access and reduce taxpayer and consumer costs for all. Or we can allow the whole effort to collapse, which would harm everybody," he said in the letter. |
Developing countries could gain by as much as $86 billion, dwarfing annual bilateral assistance efforts, he said in the letter issued on Friday. |
Apart from the leaders of G-8 industrialised nations, including US President George Bush, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Brazalian counterpart will also attend the meeting as special invitees. |