WTO to resolve Doha round of talks and food security issue by year-end: Roberto Azevedo

NEW DELHI: The World Trade Organization will try to conclude the Doha round of talks by the end of this year, including a permanent solution to the food security issue, which has been India’s top demand, WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo said on Tuesday.

This comes over a month after the 160 WTO members concluded the first ever multilateral deal after the formation of WTO held in Bali.on December 7.

“We have time up to this year-end to work on lowering trade barriers and framing new rules to retain some in the interest of all, as we did recently for the Bali package to address concerns of developing countries, including India for trade facilitation and food security,” WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo at his address at the three-day Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) partnership summit in Bangalore.

The Bali package was the agreement on the low hanging fruits of the Doha round, such as trade facilitation agreement and a peace clause, which will provide respite from punitive action on breaching the subsidy limits to farmers as agreed in the agreement on agriculture.

He noted that India would be a central player in finding a permanent solution on the issue of food security.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said India got due recognition for its demands relating to agriculture, non-agricultural market access and services.

“The Bali package demonstrated that the WTO has not collapsed. As India has its commitment towards the trade body, we can do more to take it to the next level,” Sharma said.

Noting that the success of Bali ministerial had injected a new life into the Doha round of trade negotiations, he said a renewed hope was generated to conclude the Doha round as per its core development mandate.