New Delhi — World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy Tuesday met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to gauge whether India wanted to resume the Doha global trade negotiations, news reports said. Lamy, according to sources quoted by PTI news agency, sought Singh's views on whether India wanted to keep working or wanted to take time out.
The prolonged Doha negotiations on a new global trade pact collapsed during ministerial talks in Geneva in July over differences between the United States and India on a proposed safeguards mechanism which would allow developing countries to protect their farmers by raising tariffs if there was a surge in imports.
India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said earlier that the stalled negotiations should be seen as a pause and not a breakdown. Lamy, however,is keen on the talks resuming as soon as possible, saying a global deal was still possible by the end of this year.
Speaking at a conference on global development goals organized by the federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Lamy said WTO member states told him after the talks collapsed: "Don't throw in the towel. Please reserve what's on the table. We have never been so close."
Nath, while addressing the internatonal gathering in New Delhi, said if the Doha negotiations did not see a change in its objectives, Lamy's attempts to bring the talks back on track would yield no results.
Lamy warned earlier that if the WTO could not reach a deal, US trade-distorting farm subsidies could jump to 48 billion dollars a year from the 14.5 billion offered by the Bush administration at Geneva.
Nath responded that while India was keen to resume negotiations it could not be expected to accept "flaws" like the price developing countries were being asked to pay for developed countries to cut subsidies.
He said the talks could resume and be successful if the focus was on a "revival of the weakest" and not "survival of the fittest."
Lamy's visit to India is seen as part of efforts to put the seven-year negotiations back on track. After his visit to India, the WTO chief is scheduled to visit Washington.
"My simple message here in Delhi and next week in Washington is that look carefully at what is on the table and not on results, listen to all WTO members and efforts should be to conclude the talks," Lamy told reporters earlier in the day.
