Don`t disrupt balance in Doha talks: Nath to West

At a closed-door round table of only trade ministers at the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) annual meeting, Nath said unambiguously that the industrialised countries seem determined to upset the balance in the Doha trade talks by offering too little in the market access for agriculture while pressing India and other developing countries to offer substantially huge commitments in NAMA.

India said the latest demands made by the EU and the US on anti-concentration provision as well as zero tariff elimination in certain sectors of industrial goods will not be accepted, sources told Business Standard.

Trade ministers of Argentina, South Africa and Brazil endorsed Nath's assessment by arguing that they would not be a party to an agreement that was heavily tilted against them in the market access for industrial goods.

During the round table which lasted more than two hours, Nath made it known that unless there was substantive progress in all areas of negotiations, there should not be a rush to convene a ministerial meeting.

In sharp contrast, the trade chiefs of the US and the EU said the NAMA package will hold the key to the success or failure of the Doha negotiations. The US trade representative Ambassador Susan Schwab said emerging countries like Brazil, India, Argentina and South Africa will have to show greater flexibility in providing market access for industrial goods.

The EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said "next week's meetings on NAMA among senior trade officials will be a litmus text," suggesting that if there was no encouraging response the Doha negotiations would fail.

At the core of the divide between the two trans-Atlantic trade partners on one side, and developing countries on the other are the issues of linking coefficients in the Swiss formula to reduce industrial tariffs to flexibilities for developing countries, declaring which items will be designated as sensitive products in developing countries, and making zero-for-zero tariff elimination in certain industrial sectors among other issues.

India, Argentina, and South Africa said substance must drive the process and not artificial deadlines to achieve results. The EU and the US want a ministerial meeting soon, at least by the end of this month, while developing countries feel there is not enough progress to warrant such a meeting.

World Trade Organization Chief Pascal Lamy insisted during the round table that modalities in Doha agriculture and market-opening for industrial goods will be wrapped-up "before France takes over the presidency of the EU [European Union] on July 1."

Trade ministers will decide later in the day at an informal meeting what process they need to adopt to conclude the modalities.