Trade Ministers pledge commitment to Doha

INDIA: Ministers from over 35 countries pledged swift action to conclude a new global free-trade pact and boost the ailing world economy as they assembled Friday for a final day of talks in New Delhi.

A speedy agreement on a deal to liberalise world commerce was the best medicine for the global financial downturn, said a statement issued by host nation India after the first day of informal ministerial talks Thursday.

"This crisis actually gives all members a stronger sense of urgency to conclude the Doha Round negotiations," China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming said Thursday, calling a trade deal the best bulwark against protectionism.

A new study by Washington think-tank Peterson Institute for International Economics calculated a Doha accord could bolster global gross domestic product by up to 700 billion dollars a year. India's disagreement with the United States over subsidy protection for poor farmers contributed to the 2008 collapse of the Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organisation, aimed at fuelling global commerce and lifting millions out of poverty. But in July, top industrial nations and five emerging economies, including India and China, agreed to put the Doha round back on track and conclude a deal in 2010.

India took the initiative, seeking to inject momentum into the negotiations by getting ministers to gather in New Delhi to set a roadmap for meeting the deadline.

"There was a unanimous affirmation (at the meeting) of the need to expeditiously conclude the Doha Round, particularly in the present critical global economic situation," said the statement issued by India.

The statement made no mention of a timeframe, but WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said he believed agreement could be achieved next year as long as there was political will.

New Delhi, Friday, AFP