By NNN-Bernama,
Melbourne : Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Crean today declared extra momentum had been injected into Doha negotiations after a successful ministerial meeting in New Delhi.
Crean congratulated India on hosting the Doha meeting that included representatives from 34 countries, including many developing countries.
The meeting confirmed the goal of concluding the Doha Round in 2010 and instructed senior officials to meet in Geneva from September 14 for further negotiations.
“This ministerial meeting was the most representative gathering of trade ministers since the Doha talks collapsed in July, 2008,” Crean said in a statement released here.
“The meeting was unanimous in confirming a new and broad based commitment to intensifying negotiations to conclude the Doha Round next year.
“This was a significant meeting in the lead-up to Pittsburgh where G20 leaders will review progress on Doha negotiations.”
G20 leaders will meet in Pittsburgh on September 25 and 26.
“This meeting has built extra momentum – but the task is still ahead of us,” Crean said.
“The fact that India hosted this meeting is a significant statement on the strength of its re-engagement in the Doha process,” Crean said.
In New Delhi, Crean chaired a meeting of the Cairns Group that re-affirmed the importance of agriculture to Doha negotiations.
Crean said there had been three key meetings of trade ministers in the three months leading up to New Delhi – beginning with a meeting of Cairns Group in Bali in June before meetings in Paris and Singapore.
Crean paid a visit to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and held extensive talks with his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma, the Minister for Commerce and Industry.
Mr Crean said he intended to return to India soon to discuss progress on the feasibility study into an Australia-India Free Trade Agreement.
In 2008, total trade between the two nations jumped 43 percent to A$18.9 billion.