India asks US to support Doha talks for global trade pact

India has asked the US to lend support to the WTO negotiations for reaching a global trade-opening deal, considered important to revive the world commerce that contracted last year.

"We have been engaged with all the key countries and our partners in the developing countries. We hope the other key interlocutors, particularly the US, would give their strong support for the conclusion of the present round," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said at the Brookings Institute here yesterday.

Sharma said India remains committed to the Doha Round of negotiations for a multilateral agreement to free the world trade. "We have a firm commitment to take it (Doha Round) to a successful conclusion," he said.

While India and other developing countries want to speed up the Doha negotiations, the response from the Obama administration has been lukewarm.

India has unequivocally voiced its displeasure over the tepid US attitude several times in the past.

Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, who is accompanying Sharma, had said that the US negotiators were giving least importance to talks in Geneva, the headquarters of the 153-member World Trade Organisation.

Removing barriers through a trade pact is considered important for reviving the global commerce, which has contracted nine per cent since 2009.