The Hindu Business Line : `WTO deadlock should not worry India'

India would not be unduly worried if the current stalemate in the multilateral trade negotiations under the umbrella of the World Trade Organisation persists even for two or more years, as New Delhi would not like development dimension of the negotiations getting side-tracked or diluted.

Stating this at a two-day South Asian Conference on Trade and Development here on Tuesday, the Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K. Pillai, said developing countries have successfully resisted pressures to "move first" to end the current stalemate in the Doha Development Round of WTO negotiations. This, he said, was a sign of "growing maturity" and was of critical importance as this might well be the "last opportunity" to put the development dimensions at the centre stage of WTO negotiations.

The Centre for Trade & Development (Centad) has organised this two-day conference titled `Multilateralism at crossroads - reaffirming development priorities'. Mr Pillai cautioned that there was no room for complacency and said the next two months would be particularly critical and civil society organisations and think tanks like Centad should be extra vigilant in watching the way negotiations unfold.

Speaking on the key issues that led to the current deadlock at the WTO and the likely ways out, Mr Pillai said that mere reduction of subsidies on agricultural products by the US would not meet the needs of India and other developing countries. The more important issue was of "disciplining" subsidies with product-specific caps and treatment of individual cases.

Delivering the keynote address, India's former ambassador and a distinguished trade envoy, Mr B.L. Das, said the suspension of negotiations in July 2006 was "a symptom" of basic and structural problem in the multilateral trading system. India should not feel "psychologically and politically" pressurised to revive talks, he warned.

Making his initial remarks, Mr Samar Verma, Head, Global Economic Justice, Oxfam GB, said that while all countries were anxious about resumption of talks, only a meaningful and substantial resumption should be welcomed. The two-day conference was being attended by academics, civil society representatives from across South Asia.