The two-day ministerial meeting of the Five Interested Parties (FIPS) to resolve the WTO impasse came to an abrupt halt on the first evening itself and the negotiations scheduled for Thursday were cancelled, in the face of a stalemate on agricultural issues.Talks to find a breakthrough ended without progress, with the US and other countries blaming the European Union for failing to come up with new farm concessions. The European Commission is under tremendous pressure from France against offering any such concessions.A deal on agricultural markets is considered the key to a successful outcome at the WTO summit in Hong Kong in December. Kamal Nath, Commerce & Industry Missiter representing India at the meeting, said he would not settle for a deal that could be unfavourable for farmers. “Only an arrangement that fully safeguards our interests would be acceptable”, he said.Nath also resisted a move by the EU to link the treatment of Sensitive Products (products sensitive to developed countries) and Special Products.
