No consensus on EU proposal on duty removal in Doha talks

India, China and Brazil have rejected an EU demand to agree for near-elimination of import tariff on chemicals, electronics and electrical machinery, under a multilateral WTO pact being negotiated under the Doha Round, sources said.

The European Union had called a meeting of the seven key members of the World Trade Organisation here yesterday in its effort to get a consensus on its proposal which sought tariff elimination of certain sectors

India and several other countries are opposed to what is known as 'sectoral tariff elimination'(STE)-under the WTO negotiating track on liberalisation of the world trade in the industrial goods.

New Delhi has maintained that the proposal on STE has to be voluntary and not mandatory, in sync with the declaration of the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in 2005.

The Ministerial Meeting is the highest policy-making organ of the multilateral trade agency,headquartered here.

Not only India, China and Brazil rejected the EU proposal, a major industrialised country also sharply disagreed with the same, sources said.

The developing members of the G-7 also questioned the underlying basis for the EU's proposal arguing that it is skewed between the commitments that the rich countries would undertake in return for the hefty payment that developing countries would pay.

The G-7 comprises India, the US, EU, China, India, Brazil, Japan and Australia.

In its effort to show a 'compromise', the EU has excluded audio-visual products and textiles and clothing sectors from its from its STE proposal, on the ground stating it has taken into account the  "sensitivities".

"We had an open and frank discussion, and explored options on our proposal," said the EU's ambassador Angelos Pangratis, maintaining that Brussels was "not expecting a spectacular political breakthrough", emphasising that "the gaps remain large".