NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Dec 6: Ministers from nearly 160 member countries of the World Trade Organisation entered a final day of negotiations today with officials sounding optimistic over chances of salvaging a deal that would save the WTO from sliding into irrelevance.
‘We are very close,’ WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters at the meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. ‘As things stand now, the prospects are promising.’
Earlier this week a deal had looked in doubt, largely due to India’s insistence that it would not compromise on a policy of subsidising food for its hundreds of millions of poor.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, a former Brazilian trade negotiator, told delegates at the start of the last day of talks that there was more work to be done, but sounded upbeat on prospects for success.
‘He told members they were now very close to something that has eluded us for many years and that the decisions over the next few hours would have great significance beyond this day,’ the spokesman said.
It is 12 years since the WTO launched the Doha Round, but the negotiations have yet to yield any concrete results, having started out with a far more ambitious agenda. Diplomats have warned that failure in Bali would wreck the WTO’s credibility as developed nations turn towards regional and bilateral trade arrangements.
A Bali trade deal, already diluted to the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of the Doha Round, largely hinges on India and whether the world’s second most populous country can find common ground with the United States and other developed countries on food subsidies.
India, whose government faces the risk of losing elections next year, says that its tough stance has drawn support from developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America, though the meeting’s hosts Indonesia have been pressing for it to soften its stand.
‘We are trying to get justice for the poor people,’ Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma told reporters as he entered the meeting’s last day.
Yesterday’s talks had stretched into the early hours of Friday without reaching any agreement.
Asked if there was a deal on the table, Sharma replied: ‘We are talking.’
(agencies)
Follow our WhatsApp channel