Farm subsidy cuts may be an outcome of Doha
Farm subsidy cuts may be an outcome of Doha
AFP
NEW DELHI: Developed countries were asked by India to make bigger farm subsidy cuts to ensure the success of the Doha round of world trade talks.
New Delhi is committed to an “early positive conclusion" of the deadlocked talks and believes a multilateral trading system is in the nation’s “strategic interests," were reassuring words uttered by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Indian capital on 12th March, 2007.
But “to break the impasse, developed countries must make meaningful offers to reduce the huge trade distorting subsidies provided to agriculture in their countries," Singh told a conference organized by the Economist magazine.
The Doha round of the World Trade Organisation talks, launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital, ground to a halt last July but trade ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year agreed that it was time for negotiations to resume.
The European Union and United States have been unable to agree on the size of cuts in agriculture subsidies and tariffs protecting their farm industries.
A breakthrough in the talks that are aimed at removing barriers to global trade must also come up before the expiration of US President George W Bush’s Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) on July 1, WTO officials say.
According to them, if the breakthrough can be achieved, a conclusion to the Doha trade talks will be reached in about eight months.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!