India ready to resume WTO talks at technical level, says Nath

New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today signalled India's readiness for resumption of negotiations at the technical level of the stalled Doha Round of talks on global trade.

Speaking to newspersons on the margins of the Confederation of Indian Industry and Columbia Business School conference here, he said both he and World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy at their meeting this morning held an overview of the multilateral trade talks deadlock and ways to get around the impasse.

Assuring India's full support for resumption of the trade talks, he clarified that "at the same time there cannot be any compromise on the trade distorting subsidies given to agriculture by developed countries especially the United States." He reiterated that agriculture which was of the subsistence level in India affected 300 million farmers whereas in the US it was a case of "corporations masquerading as farmers" which were cornering the subsidies.

Earlier, the WTO Director General said India should make concessions on the sensitive issue of agriculture for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round.

Mr Lamy called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at 7 Race Course Road here and during the 30-minute meeting discussed steps to break the WTO impasse.

Mr Lamy said both developed and developing countries would need to make tariff cuts, though a greater responsibility would be on the rich nations.

"During the meeting with the Prime Minister, I got the feeling that the WTO is very much on his radar," he said.

Official sources said the WTO chief, however, made it clear that he was for all the countries, including the US and other developed nations, to make concessions on domestic farm subsidies and services and other non-tariff barriers.

The talks have been suspended since last July, after the United States, the European Union and other commercial powers were unable to agree on sensitive topics such as cutting the amount of support rich countries provide to farmers.

UNI