India should play a leadership role in WTO talks: Gutierrez

New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) India must lead the developing countries at the stalled multi-lateral trade talks to break the impasse in the Doha Round of negotiations, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said today.

''India is a leader, it is perceived as a leader and followed as a leader,'' he told newspersons here, adding that for the successful conclusion of the trade talks New Delhi should give directions on what it proposes to do as many developing countries were waiting to see what stand it would take.

He was talking to newspersons here at the end of his two-day visit to New Delhi where he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath besides business leaders.

Regarding the stand adopted by the US, he said in 2006, the Bush administration had conveyed its willingness to take the lead in reducing subsidies. ''We are making a difficult choice and want to see reciprocity. When we see a meaningful counter-proposal, we will respond significantly.'' Saying the Farm Bill was not related to the WTO talks, the US official said it was implemented at the domestic level and was not driving the WTO talks.

Commenting on the debate over the entry of Wal-Mart into the retail sector, he merely said this was a reflection that India is a vibrant democracy just like the US. The FDI in wholesale retail was a ''very efficient outlet for farm products and very important benefit for farmers to have an efficient pipeline to sell their products and reduce costs.'' Noting that two-way India-US trade last year had touched 32 billion US dollars, Mr Gutierrez said India's exports to the US stood at 22 billion US dollars while American exports totalled 10 billion dollars -- in fact, the US had a trade deficit.

''We believe we are just getting started and it could be bigger,'' he said in reply to a question.

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