India for early conclusion of WTO talks

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the WTO meeting convened here with an aim to ending deadlock over global trade talks, India on Monday said its early successful conclusion was essential to restore the confidence in the global economy and markets in view of the financial crisis.

"I would like to stress that timely and successful conclusion of the Doha Round (of WTO talks) on the basis of its development mandate is even more important today particularly in the backdrop of the global economic and financial crisis to restore confidence in the global economy and markets," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said.

"The timely conclusion of the talks is important also to guard against emerging protectionist tendencies and to protect the livelihoods of the poor and marginalised, particularly in our rural sectors", he said while inaugurating the two-day conclave of Indian envoys here.

The Doha Round of talks, launched in 2001, has missed several deadlines mainly because of strong divergent positions of India and the US over agriculture subsidy, protection to farmers and nascent industries in developing countries.

India has spearheaded different groupings like G20, G-33 and NAMA (Non-Agriculture Market Access)-11 of developing countries.

With an aim to end the deadlock, a mini-ministerial meeting has been convened here on September 3-4 in which trade ministers from over 75 countries will participate.