The Hindu Business Line : `EU, US must cut farm subsidies to take forward global trade talks'

INDIA today said the EU and the US must move forward on the issue of cutting farm subsidies and resolving other issues including peak tariffs to ensure the success of the Doha round of WTO negotiations.

"The US and the EU should move if they want progress of the Doha round," the Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said at a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos after emerging from a mini-ministerial of the WTO here, which was attended by 30 trade ministers of WTO member countries.

He said that there was some progress in the recently concluded Hong Kong ministerial talks and there was need for global trade negotiations to move further.

He, however, added that the prices of farm products have been artificially kept low by developed nations through heavy dose of subsidies to their farmers, which puts the developing nations at a disadvantageous position.

Moreover, he said tariff peaks and escalation must go and cited the examples of difference in tariff on leather and textile and the finished products.

The WTO has also circulated a paper listing out the deadlines for resolving various issues. According to the WTO paper, 33 outstanding issues on agriculture and some on the non-agriculture issues have to be resolved by April 30, 2006. The deadline is July 31 for issues pertaining to trade facilitation measures.

Meanwhile, European Union trade chief, Mr Peter Mandelson, said that he was encouraged by the signs at ministerial talks that other trade powers were ready to get down to negotiating on industrial goods and services. The European Union, which has been under heavy pressure to make concessions in agriculture to help global trade talks move forward, has insisted that leading developing States, including India, have to be ready to open up their markets in goods and services.