WTO chief negotiators including from India will meet in Geneva next month to finalise the agenda for the forthcoming ministerial conference in Nairobi scheduled for December.
"WTO members have not been able to finalise the post-Bali work programme so the chief negotiators will meet in Geneva in mid-September to work and try to finalise the agenda for the ministerial meeting," a senior government official said.
The next Ministerial Conference, which is the highest decision making body of the World Trade Organisation, is scheduled to be held from December 15-18 in Nairobi, Kenya. The last meeting was held in Bali, Indonesia, where members finalised the trade facilitation agreement.
Developing countries including India are expected to ask about bringing back issues related to the long-stalled Doha Round including agriculture (export subsidies), market access and services in the next meeting, a source said.
The Doha Round of negotiations launched in 2001 have remained stalled since July 2008 due to differences between the rich and the developing nations mainly over the subsidies given to farmers.
WTO members are unable to finalise the agenda because of differences in the priority order of the issues.
