By Bernama,
Geneva : Backed by over 100 developing countries, India, Brazil and South Africa will take on the rich nations to get a fair trade deal at the World Trad Organization (WTO) meeting of key trade ministers’ beginning here Monday.
Against a backdrop of high crude oil prices and global food crisis, the WTO has convened a five-day mini Ministerial Meeting, with a hope that closing the Doha Round can reinvigorate the world economy which is in the grip of a slowdown.
“The positions are pretty hard on all sides,” thne Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, as saying on the sidelines of the WTO meeting here.
The W.T.O. had launched negotiations among its members, for new agreements to open the world trade which should be fair and without distortions.
The negotiations, launched at the Qatari capital in 2001 and known as the Doha Round were to complete by the end of 2004 for a new trade regime.
However, wide differences over the extent to opening the markets blocked several rounds of talks, including the Ministerial Meetings in Cancun and Hong Kong.
For a collective bargain, the developing countries which dominate the 152 WTO membership have aligned themselves into different groupings like G-20, G-33 and N.A.M.A. (Non-Agriculture Market Access)-11.
But, thanks to ‘never-say-die’ W.T.O. Director General Pascal Lamy and U.S. President George Bush’s desire to give a new opportunity to American business before his term expires, pressure was built to achieve an agreement.
While the number of differences has come down, the countries have stuck to their positions when it comes to the crunch of seeking new markets for themselves but protecting their own turf.