11.5 C
London
Monday, March 18, 2024
HomeBusinessDon't let Doha trade talks collapse: India

Don’t let Doha trade talks collapse: India

Date:

Related stories

Nikhil Rathi defends FCA’s plans for retail customer protection

THE chief of Britain’s financial watchdog has defended its...

One in three black women don’t expect to retire

Black and Asian women are facing significant challenges throughout...

New government should ensure stable economic growth, says John Lewis chief

John Lewis Partnership chief executive Nish Kankiwala wants the...

Super-thin semiconductor fibres make fabrics wearable electronics

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have...

Vodafone sells Italian unit to Swisscom

British mobile phone operator Vodafone said Friday it has...

THE STRUGGLING decade-old Doha Development Round of free-trade talks must not be allowed to collapse, India`s trade minister, Anand Sharma said.

The call came as failure threatens the negotiations on expanding the global free trade system by cutting subsidies and barriers for farm produce and reducing import tariffs on industrial goods and services.

"We must not allow this round to collapse," Anand Sharma told a trade gathering also attended by World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy.

India has emerged as one of the leaders of the developing countries in the painstaking trade negotiations.

Lamy, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday (September 5) for a two-day visit, told the conference that the 153 WTO members could not give up on the talks "because of a steep slope or long path."

The WTO chief is due to seek the help of India in bridging gaps on the negotiations ahead of a key ministerial meeting in Geneva in December and is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

The talks round was launched in the Qatari capital Doha in 2001, mainly to aid developing countries that felt left out of the benefits of globalisation and the previous round of liberalisation which set up the WTO in 1995.

WTO member states have repeatedly missed deadlines to agree on a global free trade pact.

The December 15 to 17 regular ministerial conference is fast turning into a watershed for the Doha talks, observers say, amid efforts to lower ambitions for the round and clinch a downsized accord.

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

- Gain full access to our premium content

- Browse free from up to 5 devices at once

Latest stories

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

twelve + eleven =