WTO officials 'making progress' in world trade talks
Top trade officials from the US, Europe, Brazil and India said they were making progress as they began a second day of meetings today aimed at reviving negotiations on a new global trade treaty.
The World Trade Organisation’s Doha round of negotiations, named after the capital of Qatar where they began in 2001, have been stalled since last July over rich nations’ refusal to slash farm subsidies and poor countries’ reluctance to grant greater access to their markets.
The two-days of meetings in New Delhi of top trade representatives from the four major WTO power brokers – the so-called G4 – are their first formal talks since they failed to resolve differences and suspended negotiations in July.
Officials have met several times informally on the sidelines of international conferences or in bilateral forums.
Participants held closed-door meetings yesterday before a formal dialogue today, when Japan and Australia were to join the negotiations.
“Differences are slowly narrowing down,” Brazilian Trade and Foreign Minister Celso Amorin said after talks with European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson yesterday.
Amorin said he expects the group to discuss a schedule for completing the deal, which has already missed an initial deadline of December last year.
“It is important that the deal is struck, that we keep in mind it is urgent, and we try to resolve the problem,” Amorin said.
Mandelson said he was going into the talks with a positive and flexible approach, but declined to predict any possible outcome.
“(We are) always positive… always showing flexibility and I would do my best to sustain that position on behalf of the EU,” he said ahead of a meeting with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
The participants were expected to discuss key issues such as agricultural subsidies and tariffs, measures to enhance exports from least-developed countries and concessions for poorer nations wanting to protect some of their domestic industries.
