G-4 nations to meet in London next week

New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) The 'Group of Four' nations will meet in London next week to carry forward their private bilateral attempts to get the stalled Doha Round of global trade talks back on track by end of this year, after their recent meeting here did not achieve much.

''The G-4 nations (United States, the European Union, India and Brazil) will meet in London next week as part of their attempts to resolve the stalemate in the ongoing Doha Round of trade talks,'' official sources today said.

The G4, which began its initiative in January this year, met here recently to assess their progress since then but again failed to reach a consensus on agriculture, one of the most contentious issues keeping the talks bogged down.

However, they agreed to aim for a compromise by mid-June.

Meanwhile, there is frustration among other countries at being excluded from the talks, even as the G-4 has nothing to show for all its efforts. WTO DG Pascal Lamy told envoys to the talks in Geneva last week he wanted to see the talks broadened to include the whole membership as soon as possible.

New Zealand's Crawford Falconer, who chairs the negotiations on agriculture, has told the envoys that he will produce a paper later this month asking direct questions about what progress has been made and what concessions countries are prepared to make.

UNI