The Seattle ministerial conference on Thurs-day moved closer towards a compromise declaration, even though mutual differences continued to dog the meetings in the final leg.
Till late in the night, various negotiating groups were still trying to thrash out a consensus. Failure to do so in the mandated time meant that the committee consisting of all the 135 member countries had to defer its meeting till Friday.
The draft ministerial declaration, which is yet to be circulated among member-countries, is likely to be finalised in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Though it may not be as ambitious as originally envisaged, it could imply a fresh fillip to global trading activity.
The final outcome is expected to include some references to labour standards _ though not in the format desired by the US _ environment, agriculture, market access, systemic issues and the so-called implementation issues.
In addition, the declaration will endorse the moratorium on taxation of e-commerce and the Information Technology Agreement-II.
The issue of a competition policy might eventually be dumped, as it has got mixed up with the proposed framework for rules on multilateral agreement on investment (MAI) due to the machinations of some developing countries led by India.
The contentious issue of agriculture itself has moved forward with the European Union (EU) and US coming closer to a mutually acceptable solution.
The Indian delegation itself was prepared for the final day. "The time for technocracy is over. We have been riding several horses as we should in a moment of negotiation. But now the time has come to take the judgement. It has to be a collective responsibility," N K Singh, secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, told Business Standard.
The Indian delegation itself is confident that it will keep out any link between labour and trade. The US, prompted largely by the Presidential aspirations of the Democratic party, has been pitching hard for ensuring mention of the linkage in the final ministerial declaration.
In desperation, the Americans went ahead and prompted the constitution of a committee on trade and labour and got the Costa Rican minister to head it. A swift concerted response from India, Pakistan, Malaysia and a host of other developing countries checkmated the move.
Subsequently, the proposal for a move forward on MAI was mooted. Moved by the EU, the proposal had the tacit support of the US.
To ensure its passage, the draft proposal suggested that a study be conducted, which would pave the way for a decision in the next round of ministerial discussions. However, in
