Date:25/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/25/stories/2006072506860100.htm

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WTO talks may take months to resume

Sushma Ramchandran

U.S. hard line on not reducing farm subsidies said to be major reason for breakdown of Geneva talks

Negotiators seek to formulate proposals acceptable to all sides

"There is little ground for convergence on core issues in Doha round negotiations as of now"

New Delhi: Even as the global trade talks collapsed in Geneva, India has blamed developed countries for not making substantial cuts in trade-distorting farm subsidies. The Doha development round of the World Trade Organisation now looks set to be suspended for the next few months.

Experts say it may take between three and six months to resume negotiations. During this period, WTO officials are likely to make frantic efforts to prepare some form of a consensus draft.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy last month said a proposal he drafted could be a last resort in case the global trade talks ultimately failed.

One of the key factors in the urgency of achieving some form of consensus by December is that the U.S. President's Fast Track Authority to get trade pacts passed in Congress expires in mid-2007. Besides, Congressional elections will be taking place in January or February 2007. These electoral compulsions, experts say, are among the reasons why the U.S. Government has taken a hard line on not reducing farm subsidies. This is said to have been the major reason for the breakdown of the Geneva talks.

Till now, the Doha Round of trade talks launched in 2001 has consistently been failing to meet deadlines owing to disagreements on all key issues, including subsidies, industrial tariffs and services. It was decided at the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial last year that the round would be completed by the end of this year.

The original deadline of April 30 for completing the modalities on agriculture and NAMA (non-agricultural market access) could also not be met.

Sad, says Kamal Nath

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, who took part in a special meeting of the key global trade players convened by Mr. Lamy in Geneva, said the developments at the G-6 meeting on Sunday highlighted what had been clear to many for quite some time — that there was little ground for convergence on the core issues in the Doha round as of now. "I speak with sadness and a sense of loss," he said.

But Mr. Nath was categorical that developing countries could not allow their subsistence farmers to lose their livelihood security and food security to provide market access to agricultural products from developed countries.