India, US to meet to fast-track farm trade liberalisation

Crucial negotiations on non-agricultural market access (Nama) are also likely to take place as Don Stephenson, chairman of Nama, has invited WTO members for a meeting on the latest revised text on the issue. Developing countries like India have expressed their displeasure at the proposals.

"Indian negotiators will have bilateral meetings on May 26 with their US counterparts on agriculture-related issues. Similar bilateral meetings with European Commission officials are also expected in the near future," said an official.

Proposals in the draft text on agriculture more or less reflect the interests of developing countries as square brackets, which contain unresolved issues and numbers related to duty cuts, now stand at nearly 30, down from 130 in the previous draft issued in February.

Indian negotiators say the text on agriculture is almost ready for discussion by ministers. "Many square brackets on agriculture can be further reduced through talks between senior officials of the respective countries. After that, trade ministers can iron out the remaining ones in a ministerial meeting," added the official.

However, the latest draft text on Nama has been rejected by many countries, including India. Square brackets on Nama rose to 97 in the latest draft, from 15 in the February text. One of the reasons was a three-tier approach on market access to industrial goods in developing countries.

In addition, flexibilities (measures to protect certain industrial goods) were also linked with different tiers of market access, with countries undertaking higher duty cuts given more flexibilities.

Officials said Stephenson had written to WTO members asking them to attend a series of meetings from May 26 to June 2 to sort out various issues. "Obviously, he did not expect that the proposals will come up for so much criticism. Thus, he does not want himself to be seen as the reason for failure of the Nama talks," said the official.