New round of talks agreed on world trade deal

Six of the top trade representatives of the World Trade Organisation have proposed to complete negotiations on a treaty to liberalise global commerce by the end of the year, a joint statement in India said.

The WTO’s Doha round of negotiations, named after the capital of Qatar where the talks began in 2001, have been stalled over rich nations’ refusal to slash farm subsidies – and poor countries’ reluctance to grant greater access to their markets.

The talks have missed several deadlines, the last being December last year.

The proposal for a new deadline came after negotiators from the US, European Union, Brazil and India – or the G4, which is how they are known within the 150-member WTO – held formal talks for the first time since they suspended the Doha round last July. Ministers from Australia and Japan also attended the meetings in New Delhi.

“We believe that by intensifying our work, we can reach convergence and thus contribute to concluding the round by the end of 2007,” the statement said.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Washington was “willing to do more than its part” to agree a deal.

Attempts to revive the process at informal meetings in recent months have failed, as the US has refused to offer deeper cuts to the billions of dollars in farm subsidies that help its farmers sell cheaper exports in the global market. The US stance has prompted the EU to resist further cuts in tariffs that protect its own farmers.

Both US and EU also want greater access to manufactured goods markets in countries like Brazil and India.

Differences over duty cuts held up progress in the Doha round and the meetings in New Delhi did not make any major breakthrough.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said: “I think this has been a much better meeting than some had predicted.”

Aid groups and analysts welcomed the new deadline, but warned that it should not come at the cost of an agreement that is fair to all parties.

“We are concerned at the non-inclusive nature of the negotiating process of restricting negotiations to a few member countries,” said Samar Verma, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam.

Negotiators said they would not comprise on the objective of the Doha round, meant to ensure that poor countries benefit as much as rich nations from trade liberalisation.

There has been growing resentment among other members, who say the negotiations are being hijacked by rich countries and emerging powers such as India and Brazil. Some have threatened to veto any deal if their concerns are not addressed.