US seeks leadership from countries like India on Doha round

The US is looking for leadership role from developing countries such as India, China, Brazil and South Africa to help conclude the Doha round of trade negotiations by taking hard choice, a top Obama Administration official responsible for international trade has said.

The US understands that the Doha round is fundamentally a development round, and quite rightly, the least developed countries should not be expected to make the sacrifices to bring this round to a conclusion, Ambassador Ron Kirk, the US Trade Representative, said.

“But we do, however, see an opportunity for leadership from some of the advanced developing countries like China, India, Brazil and South Africa to make the kind of hard choices that those of us who seek to lead in the global trading community have to make,” Kirk said in his address at the US Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

In this period of time of economic crisis, though it is difficult for the US, but it is absolutely critical that it is completed so that those least developed countries do not fall off a cliff, he said. “