Lamy to address Indian industry and meet Kamal Nath tomorrow

New Delhi, Apr 4 (UNI) Director General of the World Trade Orgnisation Pascal Lamy will meet here tomorrow, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and the leaders of the Indian industry who want that India and other developing countries should be given a Special and Differential Treatment as per the mandate of the ongoing Doha Development Round.

Mr Lamy would be here just three weeks ahead of the April 30 deadline set for the ongoing negotiations by which time, the modalities for negotiations on agriculture and non-agriculture market access (NAMA) are targeted for finalisation.

Besides meeting Mr Kamal Nath, Mr Lamy, on his first visit to India after taking over as the WTO Director General, would address a stakeholders' meeting of the UNCTAD, India where the civil society members representing different interests like agriculture, organic food and small scale industry would be present.

The WTO chief will also be attending an international conference by the Indian Council for Research on Interntional Economic Relations (ICRIER) on April 6.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged Mr Lamy to ensure that developing countries are given special and differential treatment (S&D) as per the mandate of the on - going Doha negotiations.

'' The final outcome of the Doha Round should be a win-win for all countries and the development aspect of the Doha Round should be fully honoured," CII said in a statement.

The S&D and the "less than full reciprocity" principles will ensure that tariff reduction commitments by developing countries will be lower than those of developed countries.

UNI PC SS RS1406