India's trade minister said on Friday he was optimistic that negotiators of a global trade pact could cover the "last mile" towards an agreement.
Kamal Nath said at a dinner conference that momentum in the trade talks had built up in the past two months.
18 April 2008: Reuters
By Rajkumar Ray
NEW DELHI, April 18 (Reuters) - India's trade minister said on Friday he was optimistic that negotiators of a global trade pact could cover the "last mile" towards an agreement.
Kamal Nath said at a dinner conference that momentum in the trade talks had built up in the past two months.
He hoped there would be a ministerial meeting in the third week of May and said there had been substantial progress in the negotiations.
All countries wanted a rules-based trading system on a multilateral basis and India needed it as much as most other countries, he said.
"I am optimistic because the momentum which is being built up in the last two months, and even the last two weeks, is heading towards it," he said.
"We've got to cross the last mile. I hope we can do it."
On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Gopal K. Pillai told Reuters that ministers from World Trade Organisation countries were likely to meet in Geneva in the week of May 19 to seek an elusive breakthrough in the talks to open up world trade.
The negotiations, known as the Doha round, were launched in 2001 in a bid to boost the world economy and help developing nations export more.
Since then, they have missed several deadlines but intensive talks in recent months suggest a deal may be within reach.
"We are grappling in this round with some of the most difficult issues of global trade," Nath said.
Earlier in April, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and Brazil agreed amongst themselves on how to deal with farm products that rich countries consider sensitive, potentially clearing away one big sticking point, although some differences on the small print remain.
India and other developing countries have pressed the United States to make big cuts to the subsidies it pays to its farmers. But Washington says it wants countries such as India to bring down barriers to imports of farm products and other goods.
Nath said sensitivities in Europe, the United States and Africa all needed to be respected.
"Similarly, the developed countries need to respect some sensitivities," Nath said.
He expected to meet U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab on May 8. (Editing by Giles Elgood)
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