By Fakir Hassen, IANS
Pretoria : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday joined Presidents Lula da Silva of Brazil and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in calling for a “fair and acceptable” resolution to the Doha Round of trade talks.
“We’ll work towards a balanced and equitable conclusion of the Doha Round of talks,” said Manmohan Singh at a joint interaction with the participants of the second IBSA Summit here.
Agriculture remained the key to the successful conclusion of the WTO Doha Round of trade negotiations, the leaders said in a joint statement, calling for the removal of long-standing distortions and restrictions in international agricultural trade, such as subsidies and trade barriers that affect the agricultural exports and domestic production in developing countries.
The leaders said developed countries needed to agree to substantial and effective cuts in their trade barriers and commit to real and new trade flows in agriculture.
Underscoring meaningful and operable special and differential treatment, the leaders sought development instruments that are vital to address the concerns of developing countries with subsistence and low-income farmers.
The subsidies that developed countries provide to their agricultural sector have long been a bone of contention that has prevented India, Brazil and South Africa from signing off on the Doha Round.
“The WTO Doha Round of trade negotiations is entering a critical stage,” the leaders said.
“These negotiations are now in a genuine multilateral process, with draft modalities texts for agriculture and industrial goods that provide a good basis for negotiations towards an outcome that is fair and acceptable to all.”
Hinting at the unwillingness of some developed countries to budge on the negotiations, the IBSA leaders said: “Developing countries have been constructive and willing to negotiate in all areas. (We urge the developing countries) to act with the same disposition.”