1-to-1 meets begin in Paris on Doha talks

The US seems to have manage its way on holding the Doha trade talks among smaller groups and on bilateral terms though several developing countries,including India,had opposed the idea.

Negotiations on the contentious WTO issues,including agricultural subsidy and farmers’ protection,are being held from Thursday at Paris on bilateral basis rather than 20-30 trade ministers or negotiators meeting in groups.

These are being held between the key WTO member countries including the US and other OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) nations,according to highly place sources.

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India too has sent its senior level negotiators headed by Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry D K Mittal.

However,Commerce Ministry officials sought to allay concerns that the US negotiators are trying to encourage selective talks on multilateral issues.

The US Trade Representative Ron Kirk had been selling the idea of consultations among narrow groups so that differences on the level of market opening and subsidy reduction can be easily resolved.

During the New Delhi trade ministers meeting in September,Kirk had insisted that momentum to the trade talks could come only if discussions were held on within a limited number of players since it would be a complex process to find an agreement among 153 WTO members.

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However,the US did not find any support among the developing nations on limiting the consultations among the key players.

The multilateral negotiations were revived in September here followed by officials’ meetings at WTO headquarters in Geneva.

The process also got political support from the leaders of the G20 at their Pittsburgh meeting in the last week of September. They asked their negotiators to make efforts to complete the much delayed trade negotiations in 2010.