The actual business of give and take will begin when the ministerial meetings of the World Trade Organisation enters its second day.
So far, all the players have been rehearsing their respective acts on the sidelines, even as they adopted strong public postures.
The five negotiating groups _ on agriculture, implementation, market access, new issues and transparency _ actually get underway tomorrow. These groups are headed by Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland and will come up with the critical inputs, that will be then included in the final declaration of the ministerial meet.
The US Trade Representative Charlene Barshevsky, who has been very belligerent, told a press conference here yesterday that the leader of each group was chosen deliberately.
"The leader was chosen for their activist role," she said. The USTR condemned the violence and arson, but endorsed the demand of the activists of non-government organisations for including environment and labour standards in the future trade agenda.
The developing countries on their part are not taking matters lightly. The Indian delegation has kept itself posted on all developments and is confident of holding on to its negotiating brief. "I would like to state a caveat that we cannot take the situation for granted. The situation could change suddenly," Union commerce minister Murasoli Maran said.The pace of the meetings would be determined by the US-European Union face off. As of now, both sides are refusing to blink. The Americans are pushing hard to widen the agenda on agriculture to target the subsidies regime.
What is working against the Americans, besides their unusual belligerence, is the fact that US senate has not extended the fast-track clearance to the Clinton administration. Under the fast-track clearance, the Senate accepts the entire WTO deal as a package and does not vote clause by clause.
The Japanese, the other major trading partner, is targeting the Americans by demanding a review of the anti-dumping mechanism. Several developing countries are using this to leverage themselves in their bilateral with the Americans. eta name="description" content="Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday said India was not in favour of a new millennium round of negotiations on world trade.">
