WTO talks to start in Geneva next month

In a bid to conclude the much delayed Doha talks for a global trade deal in 2011, WTO member country officials, including those from India, will start deliberations in Geneva next month to resolve the pending issues.

"Next month onwards, we will have further intensive discussions (in Geneva) and the intention of all the members is to conclude the Doha Round this year," Additional Secretary in Commerce Ministry D K Mittal told reporters here at a Ficci function.

However, Mittal said that "political support" is very important to conclude the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in 2011.

Doha round of talks under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) started in the Qatari capital in 2001 for achieving a global trade deal, but a breakthrough has not been reached upon yet.

On January 29 in Davos, 24 trade ministers from key WTO members, including India and the US, met on the sidelines of annual WEF meeting and agreed that efforts need to be stepped up to conclude negotiations this year.

After the meeting, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had said that "there is optimism that a window of opportunity(for concluding the deal) in 2011 can be accessed".

On unresolved matters in the talks, Mittal said most of the issues have been resolved and negotiators of the 153- member WTO countries are on to solve the remaining ones.

"A large number of issues have been resolved but there are some issues (in agriculture and industrial goods) on which consensus have not arised," he said.

He, however, added, "We should not forget that lot of water has travelled down the river, lot of work and effort has been done and lot many issues has been already agreed to, it is some of the outstanding issues which have to be resolved."

At the last meeting of the G-20 in Seoul in November 2010, leaders of the world's most influential countries, including the US and the EU, Brazil and India, had pressed for concluding the WTO talks for a multilateral agreement in 2011.

Differences between rich and developing nations have been a stumbling block. India and other developing nations have been defending their agricultural market to protect millions subsistence farmers from easy imports that may result from the multilateral agreement.

The US and the other developed countries, however, seek more market access in developing nations, including India.

As per the WTO estimate, successful conclusion of Doha talks could boost the global trade by up to $200 billion in a year.

Meanwhile, Mittal released two discussion papers -- Carve Outs in Agriculture Negotiations and Cotton Production, Exports and Price - prepared jointly by WTO Studies in IIFT and UNCTAD in collaboration with Commerce Ministry.

WTO Studies and UNCTAD have invited public comments on them.

The main objective of the discussion paper on agricultural negotiations is to "examine what kind of flexibilities the developed countries are seeking in the present modality paper," a government official said.