All WTO members in favour of flexibility: PM

On Board Air India One, July 18 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the member nations of G8 and its outreach partners were of the ''general impression'' that all WTO constitutents were in favour of ''certain degree of flexibility'' to break the deadlock in the Doha round of negotiations.

''Everybody recognises that a sucessful outcome will be in the interest of world economy,'' Dr Singh told reporters while returning from the G8 summit at St Petersburg.

The Prime Minister said US President George Bush had made it clear at the summit that his country was willing to be flexible, provided other members made similar gestures.

''I have not lost hope. In the final analysis, development must get prominence and words (about development in poor nations) should be translated into deeds.'' Dr Singh said there was an exhaustive discussion at the luncheon meeting between the G8 -- US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and Japan -- and its outreach partners -- India, China, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Congo (which represented the African Union) and Kazakhstan (which represented the Commonwealth of Independent States).

The main problem was the absence of unity in the European Union, he said.

French President Jacques Chirac apprised the G8-Outreach Nations meeting that WTO Chief Negotiator Pascal Lamy discussed the matter with the European Union.

Earlier, it had been discussed at the EU as well. Mr Borroso told the summit that he did not have the mandate to go beyond what EU had stated.

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