India on Friday called for addressing specific concerns of the least-developed countries (LDCs) in the Doha round of talks and conclude negotiations on the package of deliverables for them by December, leaving the rest of the agenda to be taken up later. During his interaction with the various Ministers during the informal Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial hosted by Australia on World Trade Organisation (WTO) at Paris, Union Commerce and Industry Minister [Anand Sharma] pitched for addressing the concerns of the LDCs on priority.
There is a broad consensus to work on the LDC issues. This has been a very good meeting as the backdrop was very complex. India has always stood for developing countries,” he said in a statement here after the conclusion of the meeting. Mr. Sharma said Trade Ministers conceded that Doha Round would not be concluded this year as planned in Davos because of unbridgeable differences.
Unanimous resolve
Expressing satisfaction with the meeting, Mr. Sharma said the meeting saw a unanimous resolve emerging among the various nations, that a package of deliverables which had at its heart the interests of LDCs be accorded priority and efforts made to fast track negotiations in those areas for conclusion by end December. “LDCs have a key interest in Duty free quota free market access as well as the issue of phasing out of cotton subsidies,” he added.
Shared IPR
Earlier, Mr. Sharma had a bilateral meeting with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to explore opportunities of trade and investment cooperation between India and France. He identified joint technology development with a shared intellectual property rights regime as a key area of priority especially in high end technologies.
He also mentioned energy, infrastructure, fashion, skill development and design as major priorities. Both the Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring that bilateral trade between India and France touches 12 billion Euros by 2012.
Mr. also met European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht to take stock of progress of negotiations on India-EU free trade agreement (FTA), and expressed optimism for concluding negotiations in 2011.
He also held bilateral meetings with Argentinan Trade Minister Hector Timmerman and Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson, apart from meeting WTO director general Pascal Lamy.
