Trade ministers wrap up inconclusive talks on Doha

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GENEVA, Dec 2 (AFP): Trade ministers were wrapping up three days of WTO talks Wednesday with little headway seen on ending an eight-year stalemate on framing a trade liberalisation accord ahead of a 2010 deadline.
Parties appeared unwilling to budge on the level of cuts to agriculture subsidies and industrial product tariffs which caused the impasse between developed and emerging nations in the Doha round of global trade talks.
Officials said that no landmark proposals were made to bring the process forward, including from the United States and India, blamed for the failure of the July 2008 talks over a disagreement on subsidy protection for poor Indian farmers.
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma met at least twice at the sidelines of the Geneva meeting, with the US envoy calling on trade-driven developing nations to open up their markets as vital for conclusion of the Doha round.
India, Brazil and others in the Group of 20 developing countries which act as a big negotiating block primarily on agriculture have called for a spring ministerial meeting next year to give a final push to negotiations.
The United States has not flatly rejected the idea.
Meanwhile, twenty-two developing and poor countries including emerging giants India and Brazil, Wednesday agreed on a deal on cutting tariffs on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization meeting.
"This is a very important step in south-south cooperation," said Jorge Taiana, Argentinian Foreign Minister, who chaired the group.
Under the deal, the countries agreed on cutting tariffs by at least 20 per cent on 70 per cent of all products.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development's chief Supachai Panitchpakdi estimated that the tariff cut would bring "at least 8 billion dollars more trade for these countries."
The deal would affect only trade among the 22 and is not connected to the broader Doha round of negotiations that aim for a global reduction in trade barriers. Taiana noted that the deal also shows that "developing countries have the will and capability to reach an agreement" and that the stalemate at the Doha Round of negotiations was "not a problem on our side."