EU bids consensus for WTO meet

THE European Union EU is trying to build consensus with both developed and developing countries, including India, to achieve a successful ...

THE European Union EU is trying to build consensus with both developed and developing countries, including India, to achieve a successful Cancun ministerial, according to Michel Caillouet, ambassador, EU delegation to India.

He added that the EU believed support for a comprehensive and ambitious outcome of the Doha Development Agenda DDA was increasing amongst the WTO members.

He was speaking at a seminar organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Confederation of German Industries BDI in New Delhi on Tuesday.

India and the EU have pointed out some key issues 8212; agriculture, market access on industrial products, trade related intellectual property rights TRIPs and health and Singapore issues 8212; to be discussed at length at the fifth ministerial at Cancun. However, the EU have also three more specific areas 8212; Special and Differential Treatment SDT and Implementation Issues, Geographical Indications and Trade and Environment, which also need to be discussed at Cancun. Caillouet said that apart from the issues mentioned, others needed to be dealt with in the Cancun ministerial, like the importance of the review of the dispute settlement understanding and the services negotiations.

Former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey said, 8220;it seems most of the countries are ill-prepared for the Cancun ministerial, with deadlines for negotiations on contentious issues being missed regularly. The modalities for the meet are yet to be finalised and this does not augur well for the meeting.8221;

Dubey added, 8220;India should try to retain its flexibilities in tariff fixation in agriculture and decide what kind of agreement is acceptable to it in TRIPs and public health8221;

BDI8217;s international affairs economic policy head of department Dr Claudia Woermann said, 8220;The positions of WTO members are converging more and more with possible compromises in the making. But despite this development, countries are far from having achieved consensus among WTO members.8221;