Tepid response to WTO talks in Oct

NEW DELHI: India's proposal to hold a senior officials��� meeting in Geneva in October this year for pushing forward the stalled global trade negotiations received a lukewarm response on Tuesday from countries participating in the informal WTO mini-ministerial in New Delhi. While some said it was too early to hold hard-core negotiations on the Doha round, certain Islamic countries pointed out that it would be difficult for them to participate due to religious festivities , a foreign trade diplomat said.

Tuesday���s meeting of senior officials from about 37 participating countries, which focused on laying the agenda for the two days informal ministerial meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, also discussed a number of other issues, including setting timelines for concluding the farm and industrial goods negotiations and the extent to which other forms of engagement���such as bilateral or plurilateral���could serve to hasten the negotiating process.

���Many countries felt that without political will there was no use holding a senior officials��� meet so early. However, there were others who pointed out that if the talks were to be concluded by 2010, it was time to begin negotiations seriously,��� the diplomat said.

While officials discussed the extent to which WTO members could engage in small group discussions, the diplomat pointed out that the idea did not find favour with certain smaller countries, which said they did not want to be excluded from the negotiating process.

According to an official release, participants also discussed the issue of timelines for completing the agriculture and Nama (nonagriculture market access or industrial goods) talks and revised offers in services, the sequence in which all areas being negotiated under the Doha round are to be completed , and the need to ensure commensurate development in other areas such as rules, TRIPS and trade & environment.