Last-ditch efforts on for a deal at WTO Ministerial

Negotiators scrambled for a compromise on the food subsidy issue amid reports that a deal could be signed before the ninth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting ends Friday.

Bayu Krisna Murthi, Indonesia's deputy trade minister, said a deal was "inches" away.

"We have a few hours to roll out efforts so the Bali Package can be reached," he said as trade ministers engaged in eleventh-hour diplomacy.

"There has been progress, there has been progress," said WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell.

India's programme of stocking subsidized food grain to ensure cheaper food for its people is considered to have blocked the progress of negotiations.

Trading partners say the food security programme contravenes WTO rules, which limit farm subsidies, and there are concerns India could use the policy to export food at cheaper prices, thus distorting the market.

Late Thursday night, Indonesian officials met their Indian counterparts and top WTO officials.

Officials said WTO Director Genral Roberto Azevedo, Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma held various parleys into the early hours of Friday.

"We're trying to get justice," Sharma said on arrival at the meeting Friday morning.

"There were consultations through the night. The reaction has been, we are not there yet."

On Thursday, Sharma reaffirmed India's stance calling food security "a fundamental issue", and adding that "India will never compromise".