No progress on Doha,all eyes on March meet

Ministers from all member nations of the World Trade Organization will reconvene in March when a date for...

Ministers from all member nations of the World Trade Organization WTO will reconvene in March when a date for completing the Doha Round will either be set or negotiations may be indefinitely delayed. However,so long as the worlds developed economies are unified in their goal of regaining their economic prowess,secretary of commerce and industry Rahul Khullar believes they will not agree to an easing of trade barriers to benefit the already surging economies of the developing world.

When the American-led coalition of developed economies does come back to the table,they will likely find a fierce faction among the growing nations standing firm on their issues. This will be deadly serious business; theres uncertainty mounting and theyre losing credibility, he said. If theyre not going to do it,then tell us and well move on to other things.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma also did his best to quash the demands of the developed world in an interaction in the Parliament today. Even if the US and the European Union have their expectations,it does not mean they would get what they demand, he said. Despite the harsh words coming from the minister,Khullar said quantitatively there are not a large number of issues which remain to be tackled. Sharma outlined those issues on the Parliament floor,citing the rectification of historical distortions along with the protection of farmers livelihood and food security. On industrial products,he said there was no question of India yielding and the principle of zero-for-zero duty cuts in some sectors has to be non-mandatory.

While waiting for the developed economies to come around,the developing world asserted its solidarity in Geneva last week by hammering out a framework on the Global Systems of Trade Preferences GSTP,or the slashing of trade tariffs among developing economies.

The success of the Sao Paulo Round for GSTP was overshadowed by the failures of the Doha Round. In the months leading up to last weeks WTO summit in Geneva,talk was tough around the world as the hundreds of likely participants raised their hands in support of moving the Doha talks forward. But aside from the show of hands,progress was nil,Khullar told an audience at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry today. Nothing was going on in the two-three weeks before the summit and whenever you approached anything even remotely controversial,everyone would head for the bunker, he said.

When delegations arrived in Switzerland on November 30,people descended on Geneva with extraordinary frustration, as the western world led by the American delegation showed every intention of dragging their feet,Khullar said. Until health care reform and their unemployment rate can be put aside,trade is not on anyones agenda on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, Khullar said.